A Lifetime
by GoldsworthyGontierGirl123
Summary: *Sequel to 'The Kids of the Kids of Degrassi'* This follows the Lives of Eli and Clare, from their wedding, their first kids, and their daughter and son's drama.  You dont need to read 'The Kids of the Kids of Degrassi' before this.
1. The Engagement

**The moment you 'The Kids of the Kids of Degrassi' have waited for! The sequel! This story isn't really a sequel, but it will follow a lot of the plotline of 'The Kids of the Kids of Degrassi'. So if you haven't read 'The Kids of the Kids of Degrassi', I suggest you do before u read this! I'll being going through the important moments in their life until Julia (if you read 'The Kids of the Kids of Degrassi', you know who I'm talking about). Then I'm going to do it by year!**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

"_Okay, you can do this,"_ Eli thought, giving himself a pep talk. _"Just ask her." _He felt in his pocket, the small box still in there. Sighing loudly, he knocked on Clare's door.

She opened the door, her face lighting up when she saw him. She looked beautiful, wearing a light blue, spaghetti strap dress that came above her knees, black heels, and her cross necklace. _"Absolutely stunning."_

"Thank you," Clare answered, blushing. "You don't look that bad yourself."

"_Did I say that out loud?" _Eli thought. "So you ready to go? Don't want to be late to your prom, now do we."

"Nope! I'm just happy to take a college freshman as my date," Clare giggled, grabbing Eli's hand. "My parents just want to get some pictures."

"They're in the same room?"

"Yeah. They're trying not to fight, but the only way to do that is for them to not talk." She frowned and led him the living room.

"Ah, Eli." Her dad shook his hand. "When will you have her back?"

"Dad…" Clare sighed.

"When she wants to come back," Eli answered.

"Midnight," her dad said, sternly.

"I'll have her back by midnight then."

"Okay, I want pictures and I want them now," her mom demanded, leading them to the front door. "Anything to get out of the same room with that man," she whispered into Clare's ear.

"_Some things never change," _Clare thought. Eli grabbed her hand, putting on her corsage. He then wrapped his arm around her waist as he smiled at her mom holding the camera.

After several pictures, Clare ushered Eli out the door before her parents could talk to him anymore.

"And that was about…?" Eli asked.

"I just… don't want them talking to you. They're insane and they'll turn on each other during your Q&A."

"How…"

"They'll find a way," She interrupted, knowing what he was going to ask.

"Okay…" He opened Morty's door for her and they drove to Degrassi.

* * *

"Wow, this is amazing," Clare sighed, swaying back and forth with Eli to the music. "I'm just happy I got you to dance."

"Only for you," he groaned, smirking. He readjusted his hands on her waist as she rested her head on his shoulder. _"When are you going to ask her, you big baby?" _

The song ended as a fast pace song replaced it. Clare lifted her head, looking into Eli's green eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Eli answered, seeing Alli gawk at them. She had come back to Degrassi, unable to stand her all-girl school. "I think someone wants detail," he said, nodding his head towards Alli. Clare giggled. "Go do what girls do. Give her the hot, steamy details." She smirked, gave him a peck on the cheek, and walked towards Alli. Eli could hear Alli's not-so-concealed squeals as he walked towards Adam.

"Are you going to ask her tonight or not?" he asked, leaning on the punch table.

"All in good time, my friend," Eli smirked.

"So next century?"

"Ha, ha. You kill me," Eli answered in a monotone voice.

"It's a gift." Clare waved good-bye to Alli and began to walk over to Eli. "Good luck."

"Won't need it," Eli said, as Clare grabbed onto Eli's arm.

"And the winners for prom king and queen are…" the class president said on the stage. "KC Gunthrie and Jenna Middleton!" The room went into applause, even Eli clapped… twice. _Clap, clap,_ done. Then, the idea hit him, like two elephants attached to dump truck carrying four tons of rocks hit. "I'll be right back," he whispered and ran towards the stage. As the president was about to give the microphone to the DJ, Eli grabbed it.

"Hold on! Hold on!" he commanded. Everyone turned towards him. "Hey. How's everyone doing?" A mixture of mumbles replied. "Well, I know you guys want to get back to dancing and crap like that… but I want, no I need to say something."

"What's he doing?" Clare asked, turning to face Adam.

"You'll see," he smiled. "Just watch." She gave him a confused look then turned back to Eli.

"I came here with the smartest, most caring, most beautiful girl I've ever met." The crowd aw-ed. "And she came her tonight my girlfriend, but I want to leave here my fiancé." The crowd aw-ed again. Clare's face went into total shock. "Clare Edwards…" he got down on his knee, facing Clare. He pulled out the small box in his pocket and opened it, holding the opened side out. "Will you marry me?"

Clare stared at him as the crowd moved to create a path for her. Slowly, she made her way to the stage. The whole room was silent when she got up on the stage. Taking the ring, she examined it, then slid it on her finger. "Yes," She whispered. The crowd cheered and Eli picked her up, spinning her around, before he set her down and embracing her for a kiss, the kiss that began a lifetime.

* * *

**Like my cheesy ending? I have chapter 2 done and chapter 3 almost done, but I'm not going to post chapter 3 until I finish chapter 3. I don't want you guys waiting forever for me to write that chapter.**

**Reviews are appreciated! Thank you!**


	2. The Wedding

**The Wedding! Yay! I'm sorry this isn't very long, but I tried my best! And, yes, I used my birthday for their wedding date. I couldn't think of another summer date!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

June 23: the happiest day of Clare's life. The day she becomes Mrs. Goldsworthy. She stared at herself in the mirror, the white lace necklace and long train just popping out at her.

"Nervous?" a voice asked, making her jump. "I'll take that as a yes," All giggled, fixing Clare's hair. "You look gorgeous."

"Thanks," Clare sighed, running her hand down her hair. "I have a butterfly garden full of butterflies floating in my stomach."

"Well, I figured you didn't have a butterfly garden full of tigers in your stomach," Jenna giggled. Jenna and I reconnected after the whole "Time Travel" incident. In fact, Brookie was our flower girl.

"Not funny," Clare said, sitting down. "I don't know why I'm nervous. I mean, I'm marrying Eli. But that probably the reason."

"You love him, right?" Alli asked, hugging Clare.

"Of course!"

"Well, then, this should be easy. He loves you, too, no matter what."

"This is your special day," Jenna smiled, patting Clare's knee. "You shouldn't be worried. I was when I married KC, but then, as soon as I saw him, all of the nervousness and pressure: it all went away."

"I guess you're right," Clare sighed, remembering KC and Jenna's wedding last year. She was a bridesmaid and the ceremony was beautiful. And Brookie stayed quiet through the entire thing.

"Clare," Darcy called from the door. "It's time."

"I'm coming," she answered. Jenna and Alli smiled back at her before leaving for the ceremony. She sighed, then shook her hands, trying to get the jitters out. The music played. She knew she had to go. Grabbing her flowers, she walked towards the hall. Jenna was just walking down the aisle as she stepped in line.

Alli looked back smiling. "Your dad's here."

Clare sighed, smiling. Her dad was **completely** opposed to her marrying Eli. In fact, he did everything in his power so she didn't, but nothing could stop them. She caught a glimpse of him, looking kind of angry. But she was just happy he showed up.

The doors closed. The music stopped. Then a new song came on. She started to hum it:_ here comes the bride. _The doors opened and Brookie walked forward, throwing flowers on the floor. She followed as everyone stood up.

There he was: Eli. His black tux gripped perfectly around his body and his hair swoop perfectly in place. His eyes grew wide at the sight of Clare and his smirk turned into a small, cute smile.

"_Wow…"_ they both thought, smiling at each as they met at the front of the hall.

"Perfect."

* * *

"Do you, Elijah Goldsworthy, take Clare Edwards as you lawfully wedded wife for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"And do you, Clare Edwards, take Elijah Goldsworthy as your lawfully wedding husband for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." She began to cry, but continued to smile throughout the entire ceremony.

"I know pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Eli grabbed Clare's waist and pulled her closer for their kiss. The crowd cheered as the new Mr. and Mrs. Goldsworthy separated.

**

* * *

**"Well, finally. It's happened," Adam chuckled, beginning his best man speech. "These two are finally married. I was there when it all started and through all of the ups and downs. I played ref for these two a lot!"

"Way to keep it subtle, Adam," Eli whispered into Clare's ear, causing her to giggle.

"Could be worse," Clare offered. "He could be drunk. I think he is." Eli smirked as the crowd clapped. He started to clap, but he still looked at her.

"I believe it's time for our first dance, Edwards." He stood up, offering his hand to Clare as 'You Had Me From Hello' by Kenny Chesney came on.

"It's Goldsworthy," she smirked, taking his hand, "I'm just surprised you chose a country song."

"I heard it once and I thought it sounded like us," he replied, putting his hands on her waist.

"Well, if it were really truthful, it would be called 'You Had Me From the Time You Ran Over My Glasses with Morty'," she joked, putting his arms around his neck.

"Sure, Clare Goldsworthy," he said, loving to hear her name with his last. "Whatever you say," he smirked. They kissed.

* * *

'**You Had Me From Hello' was the first dance song played at my last wedding and I couldn't think of another song, so I used it. I'm not a country fan, but it's a pretty good song. **

**Again, sorry that this chapter isn't very long, but I defiantly make up for it next chapter: 7 pages!**

**Reviews are TOTALLY welcome! Thanks for Reading! **


	3. The Baby

**Chapter Three! Yay! Let's just say, a lot of songs helped me make this, so they are mentioned in the story. And since I HATE (I hate it so much its underlined and capitalized! That's a lot of hate) most pop, hip-hop, and rap music, about 99% of the songs are going to be in one part of the rock music genre. So if you've never heard any of the songs in this story, I suggest you listen to them. They are AMAZING!**

**And singing is underlined.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Alli, I-I… I need you… now."

"Clare, you're voice is all shaky. Is everything okay?"

"J-Just hurry." She ended the call, trying to hold back tears. But she couldn't tell if they were happy tears or sad ones. Eli was still in class so she was all alone until Alli comes. She sat still on the couch for ten minutes until Alli came.

"Clare?" Alli called into the dorm, letting herself in. Seeing Clare, she ran over, giving her a hug. "What's wrong?"

"I…" The dam burst, the tears flowing over. "I think I may… I may be… pregnant…"

"Clare Edw- Goldsworthy!" She corrected herself, yelling. "Congratulations… Wait! May be?"

"I… I'm not sure, yet… That's why I'm not in class. I felt sick, like I was going to throw up, and I'm… late…"

"Oh, my God!" Alli exclaimed, squealing. "It's only a couples months after you guys got married! This is awesome!" She hugged Clare again. "Come on." She tugged Clare's hand. "We're getting you a test, **NOW!"**

"Fine…" she groaned, grabbing her purse from the table as Alli dragged her out of the dorm.

* * *

"I don't want to."

"Well, what else can for you do?" Alli asked, handing Clare the box. "Live for nine months 'not knowing' you were pregnant like the ladies on I Didn't Know I was Pregnant." She put air quotas around 'not knowing'.

"Fine!" She snapped, snatching the box from Alli's hand as she smirked.

"Good girl." Clare stuck her tongue out at her as they heard the door open.

"Oh, crap! Eli…" She threw the box behind the sink.

"Call me with the results, okay?" Alli asked, picking up her purse and heading out of the bathroom.

"You're leaving?"

"Yep." He head turned to Eli, who was walking past the bathroom. "See ya."

"YOU SUCK!" Clare yelled as the dorm room door shut.

"Whoa. What was that about?" He chuckled, hugging Clare.

"Oh, nothing much. Alli just thinks she's pregnant and I wanted to know for sure," she lied, leading him to the kitchen. "You know, be a good best friend."

"Well, that's… wow. Alli?" Eli took out a bottle of water, then took a drink. "Wow. That's all I can say." They sat down in silence for a while.

"I'll be back in minute," Clare said, running to the bathroom before Eli could reply. She pulled out the box, taking out the stick. _"Peeing on a stick: fun," _she thought. Done. She took out her phone, setting the timer: 3 minutes. She set the stick on the counter and waited… and waited… and waited. Maybe she should have told Eli the true before, but something told her not to, whether it was her conscience or her nervousness. Could this be Julia? She was the age Julia had told her; she had just turned 18, but maybe this was just a… false alarm? She wanted Julia, ever seen she met her, but was she ready now? Her phone dinged. _"I guess it's time to find out."_ She stood up and leaned on the counter over the stick. "Pink plus…" she whispered. "Eli, you might want to come here!"

He ran to the closed door, flinging it open. "What's wrong?" He eyes moved to what Clare was leaning over on the counter. He saw the pink plus sign on top of the stick. "Julia?"

She smiled. "Julia!" she exclaimed, running over to Eli and jumping in his arms.

"Holy Crap!" Eli exclaimed. "It's starting: our future!"

"So are you excited?" Clare asked, nervously.

"No. I'm ecstatic!" He twirled her around before setting her on the ground. "It's so weird that you and Alli are having kids at the same time."

"Yeah, about that… I lied."

"What?" he chuckled.

"I just told you that to throw you off my case."

"Why didn't you want to tell… She is mine, right?" His eyes filled with terror.

"OF COURSE!"

"Okay, then. So why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know!"

"Okay, we need to quit yelling." He took her hand and led her to the couch. They sat down as he handed her the phone. "I don't think it's good for the baby."

"And the phone is for…?"

"You have some people to call. Probably Alli first, seeing that she was dying to know."

"Me? You mean we," Clare giggled. "You help to make her, you're helping with the announcements."

"Fair enough," Eli sighed. "So should we tell my parents or your parents first?"

She hadn't thought of that. Her parents weren't big on her marrying Eli so young, but how will they react when she's pregnant young, too? "Um…"

"You're worried about telling your parents, aren't you?"

"Seriously, can you read minds or something?" she exclaimed.

"It's a gift," he smirked. "We tell my parents first, if you want."

"Do you think we could tell them together?"

"Well, of course we'll tell them together. I don't expect you to tell them on your own."

"N-No!" Clare sighed. "I mean, your parents and my parents at the same time."

"Kill two birds with one stone? I like it." He smiled. "I'm going to be a dad."

"And I'm going to be a mom," she sighed again, laying her head against Eli's chest. "It's just so… amazing."

He started running his fingers down her hair. "Yeah, I know…" He was interrupted by Alli, who swung the door open.

"Well?" She demanded.

Clare smirked at Eli, then went to the bathroom, took the test, wrapped it in a paper towel, then came back out, and threw the test at Alli. After fumbling to catch it, she unraveled the towel, starring at the top. "You mean…?"

Eli stood up and out his arm around Clare's waist. "Goldsworthy 1." He pointed to himself, then moved his finger to Clare. "Goldsworthy 2." His finger moved down to Clare's stomach. "Goldsworthy 3."

"Oh, my God!" Alli exclaimed, hugging Clare. "You're pregnant!"

"Why do I have to be Goldsworthy 2?" Clare asked, hugging Alli.

"Because you weren't born a Goldsworthy," he explained.

"Fine," she half-scoffed, half-giggled. She continued hugging Alli as Eli reached for the phone to call his parents. Tomorrow's dinner may be a little awkward.

* * *

Just as he thought: awkward. He picked up the glass by the rim, took a sip, then set it back down. He always did that in an awkward moment. He didn't know why, but he did. And to make things even more awkward, both of Clare's parents were here, but they weren't talking or yelling or even looking at each other. So half of the dinner was eaten in silence.

He looked over at Clare. She was shaking. He could tell she was going to break. Grabbing her hand under the table, he sent her a looking that asked, _"You want to tell them now?"_

She nodded, her eyes saying, "Thank you."

"Okay, what's going on?" his mom, Cece, asked before Eli could speak up. "You're doing that 'talking through your minds' thing! What's up?"

"Well, you see…" He began, gripping tighter onto Clare's sweaty hand.

"I can't take it anymore!" Clare interrupted him, jumping out of her chair. "I'm nervous about this, but if I don't tell you now, I never will! I'm pregnant!" She let out a sigh of relief. "That felt good," she sighed, sitting back down in her chair.

"Yeah…" he groaned, sliding down in his seat. "Couldn't have waited for me?"

"Sorry. It was either that or a mental breakdown."

He looked over at Clare's parents. Her dad dropped his fork. Her mom was choking on her water. He turned towards his parent, though they were smiling. _"Well, at least half of them are happy."_

"E-Excuse me?" her mom asked.

"You heard me," Clare said. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh, my…" She shook her head.

"Oh, baby boy, that's amazing!" His mom hugged him.

"Thanks, mom," Eli groaned, trying to breathe in his mother's death grip hug.

"And this is amazing how?" Her dad asked.

"It's a new life coming into our world! It's a miracle!" Bullfrog answered, obviously excited.

"Mom, Dad, I'm married. I think it's common for married people to have kids," Clare spat out.

"KIDS?"

"Kid! Kid! There's only one!" Eli assured them.

"How do you know?" Clare's mom asked.

"Call it a hunch." He shrugged, smirking. "I also have a hunch that she's a girl."

Her mom sighed. "God, you're too young for this."

"I don't think so, Mom. I think, it's destiny."

* * *

"'_Smells like Teen Sprit' by Nirvana," _Eli thought as Clare changed the radio station. _"Nice choice, Clare. Too bad it's almost over."_

"Figured you didn't want to listen to Rihanna," Clare giggled.

"You don't know me at all!" he sarcastically scoffed. "Rihanna is my girl!"

"You want me to change it back?" Clare leaned forward, finger almost to the 'back' button.

"_Oh, crap…" _he thought. "With the lights out, it's less dangerous/here we are now, entertain us," he quickly sang along.

"That's what I thought," she smirked smugly, putting her back up against the seat as the song changed. "Oh, my God! I love this song!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You like 'Broken' by Seether and Amy Lee?"

"Yeah. I really started listening to it during the divorce," she blushed. "It comforts me I guess."

"Wow. I would **not** have expected that."

"'Cause I'm broken, when I'm lonesome," she started to sing.

"And I don't feel like I am strong enough," he joined her. She laughed at me. "What?"

"You don't seem like the singing type," she giggled. "That'll all."

"Really? And I don't feel right when you're gone," he sang at the top of his lungs. "You've gone away/you don't fell me here, anymore."

"Wow," she tried to not burst out laughing. "You're really good."

"Is that sarcasm?" he asked, parking Morty. "Have I rubbed off on you too much?"

"No! I'm serious!" Clare got out, shutting Morty's door.

"Sure, sure. The shower head is really impressed."

"Did you just take something from High School Musical?"

He paused, opening the door to the doctor's office for her. "Um, no… You watched High School Musical?"

"Never mind!" She said quickly, obviously embarrassed. "Hi, Dr. Way!" She greeted their baby doctor.

"Hi, Clare," she said, walking over to them. "Just on time! Come with me!" She led them to her office, where she had Clare lay down on the exam table. "So how far along now?"

"Five mouths," Clare answered, smiling.

"Okay, well I'm just going to take a look at the baby." She put blue gel on Clare's stomach. Clare shivered; she always does, because it's always cold.

"Cold?" Eli asked, seeing her shiver.

"No! It's lava!"

"As long as it's not cold," he smirked.

"Oh, ha…" she sighed, giggling a little.

"Okay," Dr. Way turned on the monitor. "There's your baby. Do you want to know the sex?"

"Don't need to," Clare answered. "She's a girl."

"Yep. You guys have a healthy baby girl." She pointed to an area that appeared to have a face shape. "She's right there."

"Oh, my God! She's beautiful, Eli!"

"Yeah." He squeezed her hand tighter. "We did good."

"So any names picked out?"

"Julia Carolyn," they answered, their eyes still glued to the monitor before the nurse shut it off.

"How many pictures do you want?"

"Eight, please."

"Make that nine," Eli said before Dr. Way left.

"Nine? We only need eight: two for your parent, two for mine, I'm mailing one to Darcy, one for Alli, and two for us."

"We've forgotten someone very important."

"Who?"

Eli gulped. He couldn't believe he forgotten him. "Adam…"

She stared at him for a second until her eyes went wide. "Holy Crap! Adam! We forgot to tell Adam!"

"And he's coming back for college for the weekend tomorrow with Fiona," Eli sighed.

"Seriously? **Seriously** seriously? Don't lie to me, Eli! Stress is not good for Julia!"

"I'm not lying. Adam called me this morning. That's how I remembered we didn't tell him."

"Oh, crap!" she squeaked. "Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap! How could we be so stupid?"

"Not stupid: busy, forgetful, ignorant. Those are words I would used."

"Not the time for sarcasm, Eli," she groaned as Dr. Way handed them the pictures.

**

* * *

"You ready?" Eli called the bathroom, putting his hair in just the right.**

"Almost," she answered. She walked in, wearing a black sundress that came up to her knees. It just barely revealed her baby bump.

"Are we seeing friends again or going to a funeral?" he asked, looking her dress up and down. "Looks good, though."

"Thanks," she said, brushing her hair. "And you should think it looks good, you bought it." Setting down the brush, she turned sideways and looked in mirror. "It hides Julia pretty well."

"Well, we are telling them about Julia. Do you want to hide her?"

"No, but… okay, confession time," she sighed. "Truth is: this is the only dress I can still fit into."

He smirked, trying not to laugh. "It's worth it, isn't it?"

She smiled, looking directing into his eyes. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him. "If it wasn't worth it, would I be carrying your daughter right now?"

"I guess not." He kissed her again, before leaving her to finish doing her make-up. It didn't take long, because she never applied much. Eli hated when girl wore so much make-up, you could tell that they were. He thought that the natural look was always better.

"Ready," she announced, grabbing her purse from the table. Eli turned the TV off and caught Morty's keys as Clare threw them at him. Eli opened Clare's door for her once they got to Morty. "Thank you," she said, sitting down. Once Eli got in and started the car, Clare immediately plugged in Eli's iPod. Soon, 'Issues' by Escape the Fate blasted through the speakers.

"Not your type of music," he said. He looked down at the dock. "Not your iPod."

"Well, I figured, since future Julia said she was in love with Escape the Fate, we might as well start her love early!"

"Fine by me," he gave in. "I love Escape the Fate."

"These issues pin me to the floor!" she sang.

"These issues are my overlord!" he joined her.

"I feel so dominated!" They sang together. "These issues, they choke me like a noose!"

"Issues!"

"They choke me like a noose!"

"Issues!"

"They choke me like a noose!" Clare giggled. "I love that song now. You're good at the scream parts."

"I try," he shrugged. "I didn't even know you knew that song."

"Eli, after we met future Julia, you've played Escape the Fate almost as much as you've played Dead Hand. You learn lyrics after 500 times you heard them," she giggled.

"Well, excuse me for trying to get myself ready!" She playfully stuck her tongue out at him. "Ouch!" He chuckled, pulling up to the Torres house. Before he could put Morty in park, Fiona ran out the door with Adam following her more slowly.

"CLARE!" she shrieked, running up to Clare's door. Once she started dating Adam, she and Clare had become really good friends. Clare hugged Fiona, trying not to be squeezed by her. But she did anyway and when their faces met, Fiona wore a wondering look on her face. _"She obviously felt the baby bump,"_ she thought worried.

"Clare, are you…" Fiona drifted off.

"Shh!" Clare shushed. "Eli wants to be the one to tell Adam."

Fiona squealed quietly, trying to conceal her excitement. She hugged Clare again, lighter this time. Clare smiled when she saw Adam and Eli come to her side of Morty. Fiona let go after realizing the guys were behind them.

"Clare!" Adam smiled, hugging her lightly, not because he knew (Eli had shook his head at Clare, meaning that he didn't tell him), but because that's how he hugged. "It's been so long! How have you been?"

"We have something to tell you," Clare sighed as Eli walked behind her grabbing her hand. "You may want to sit down for this."

Adam wore a confused look. "Okay? Come inside…" Adam led them inside. Clare looked over at Fiona, who looked like she as going to explode from excitement. Clare sat next to Adam, Eli next to Fiona.

"So, we have some big news…"

"Let's me guess: Eli's pregnant!" Adam exclaimed. "I knew it!"

"Yes, I'm totally pregnant!" Eli chuckled. "Thanks for noticing!"

"Not Eli." Clare took Adam's hand, placing it on her stomach. "I'm five months pregnant."

"Seriously?" Adam asked. "Why wasn't I informed of this sooner?"

"Because you drifted apart from us," Eli said, a tint of bitterness in his tone.

"Fine," Adam admitted. "This is SO COOL! I want to be called Uncle Adam when this kid can talk!"

"Not 'this kid'," Eli corrected. "She. We're having a girl."

"A girl!" Fiona squealed. "Oh, my God! Do you know how many cute baby girl clothes are out there! This kids is going to be spoiled by her Aunt Fiona!"

"Fi, y-you don't have to spoil her…"

"Clare, you know me. I do **NOT **give up an opportunity to shop."

"Point taken," Clare sighed, as Eli chuckled.

"So any names?" Adam asked.

"We've decided on Julia," Eli answered.

Adam's eyes opened wide. "Julia? Seriously?"

"Yep. Clare says it's her soul coming back to me."

"I said?" she exclaimed. "Those were your words!"

"Julia?" Fiona asked, seeing as she didn't know about his ex.

"I'll explain later," Adam whispered.

"And we want you guys to be the god parents," Clare explained.

"Really? Oh, my God! Yes! I would be honor to be Julia's godfather! MOM!" He shouted into the kitchen. "I'm going to be a godfather!"

"Way to contain your excitement, Adam," Eli whispered, causing Clare to giggle.

"What?" Mrs. Torres and Drew asked, coming into the living room.

"Eli and Clare are having a baby! It's a girl and they're naming her Julia and they asked Fiona and me if we would be her godparent and we said yes and I'm really excited right now and I think I might want to stop rambling and…" Drew slapped him across the face. "I'm good. Thanks, bro."

"Anytime," Drew answered. "Congratulations, by the way, guys."

"Thanks, Drew," they answered.

"Don't you think you guys are too young to have a baby?" Mrs. Torres asked.

"Maybe, a little," Clare admitted. "But there's no going back now, as if I ever would…"

"And we always knew we were going to be young parents," Eli added.

"How?"

"Physic?" "Fortune cookie?" They both said at the same time.

"O…kay? I have some brownie that will need to be taken out of the oven soon. Let's take this conversation into the kitchen," Mrs. Torres suggested.

Once the group was heading towards the kitchen, Clare took the opportunity to slap Eli upside the head.

"OW!" He exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"Fortune cookie?" Clare asked, disgust filled her tone. She started walking towards the kitchen.

"Sorry! I panicked!" Eli admitted, following Clare.

**

* * *

"Don't open your eyes," Eli demanded, leading Clare down the hallway of their new house. Eli's parent's had gotten it for Julia baby shower gift.**

"I won't, Eli," Clare promised, placing her hands over her eyes. She had no idea what he was doing.

"Okay, you can open your eyes."

She saw a flash of purple before everything came into view. The walls were purple and there was crib and… _"This is Julia's room!" _she realized. _"This is what Eli was doing at night!"_ Each wall was a regular purple. The bed sheet on the mattress was a light purple, along with most of the stuffed animals Jenna, KC and Brookie had gotten her. The closet door was a dark purple and inside was a rainbow of different colored outfits given by Alli and Fiona, and some not so colorful (blacks and grays) Eli had gotten her. The dresser/changing table matched the closet door and next to it was a wooden rocking chair, complete with a blanket over the back and a small table next to it for bottles to be placed. "This… This is amazing!" She hugged Eli. "I love you."

"I love you, too. And Julia." He smirked, looking at his own work. "Okay, it's not complete. I still have two more things I need. Be right back." He sprinted out of the room.

Clare sat down in the rocking chair. She knew that in about three weeks, someone would be living in here. Julia was supposed to be here in three weeks to the date. _"This is where she's going to learn to walk, learn to talk, sleep, play, sing rock songs (her music tastes are like her father), and cry over her first heartbreak… or just cry in general."_

"Clare, are you okay?" Eli asked, taking her from her thoughts. He held his hand behind his back the other one pushing her curled bangs from her eyes. "You're crying."

"I am?" Her pushed her finger over her wet cheek. "Oh. I was just thinking about Julia. So what do you have behind your back?"

"Well, first…" He walked over to Julia's crib and attached something to the wall over it. "My own Escape the Fate 'Dying is Your Latest Fashion' poster…" He then walked back over to Clare, who could now see the poster: the girl's disheveled make-up and lip-ring. "And I found this at Hot Topic online and I had to get it." He handed her a folded piece of cloth. She unfolded it, seeing that it was an Escape the Fate onesie. She started to laugh.

"What every newborn wants," she giggled. "Well, our Julia, at least."

"Yep. She's going to want pictures of her in that," Eli smirked.

"You know what's weird? Adam brought this over while you were in school." Clare got up and went tot their room. Opening the top drawer of her bedside dresser, she pulled an article of clothing out of it. She threw it at Eli when she returned. "I opened it, but I figured I would let you see it when she's born."

He unfolded it and read the front. "Black Veil Brides," he read. He smirked and looked back at Clare. "Is her whole style going to be band shirt?"

"With you for a dad? Yes!" She answered, before kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, one of the few kisses left of their family being just them.

**

* * *

Her eyes slowly went open as she regained consciousness. _"Where am I?" _Clare thought. Then she remembered: Julia was born. The first thing she saw was the ceiling, until she turned her head left. The sight made her smile: Eli was holding a pink bundle, obviously Julia. She giggled, making Eli's head turn to her.**

"You're awake," Eli realized, adjusting the blanket around Julia.

"Let me see her," she demanded, stretching her arms out. Eli smiled, then placed Julia in her arms. First thing Clare noticed was her chocolate brown hair. Her eyes were shut, but she knew they were green, like Eli's. Everything about her screamed, "This is Eli Goldsworthy's daughter!"

"She looks likes you," she smiled, a tear going down her cheek.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm happy, Eli. We're a family," she answered, looking down at Julia.

He kissed the top of her head, then moved some curls from her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too," She replied. "Look! Her eyes opened. And she smirked when you talked!"

Eli looked at his daughter and she was smirking and hey eyes were glued to him, her green eyes He ran his finger over her hand until she grabbed onto it with her tiny little hand. "That's my girl," Eli whispered.

* * *

**Okay, some of you may be asking, "Why is Escape The Fate mentioned a lot?" Well, if you look closely in Halo part 2 when Clare and Adam first see Eli's room, you can see an Escape The Fate 'Dying is Your Latest Fashion' poster. So that's why I chose Escape The Fate. I also named Dr. Way after Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. I have weird ways of naming things. I don't own 'Smells like Teen Sprit' by Nirvana, 'Broken' by Seether featuring Amy Lee, 'Issues' by Escape the Fate, or Degrassi. ****And I swear Hot Topic makes an Escape the Fate onesie! I was looking at what Escape The Fate shirts Hot Topic had online and that came up! It was SO cute. I don't know about the Black Veil Brides onesie, but it would be SO cool!**

**All reviewers will be given… the satisfaction of knowing they reviewed and made my day! **

**Thanks for Reading!**


	4. Julia in Months

**The first year with Julia! I think I made Eli a little out of character, but you never know who being a father will affect someone. I'm SO sorry this took so long. I had semester exams and a lot of crap, but here it is! (ugh! this stupid thing i sbeing a buttt! sorry if a lot of the begining is centered)**

**So Enjoy!**

* * *

"Come on, Julia," Eli heard Clare cry. "Please stop crying!" He checked the time: 2:30 am. Hearing Julia cry along with Clare, he got out bed and sleepily walked into his three-month-old daughter's room. Clare was bouncing Julia in her arm. He went up to her, wrapping his arms around Clare's waist. She jumped a little.

"Go back to bed, Clare," he whispered in her ear. "I'll take Julia."

"Are you sure?" she asked, her eyes watering a little still.

"Positive. Now give me my daughter," Eli demanded, smirking.

"Fine," Clare sighed, shifting Julia into Eli's arms. "Good luck." She kissed him. "Thank you. Love you."

Julia was still crying. "What's wrong, Jules?" He noticed her pajamas: pink footies with yellow, blue, and purple flowers where a pocket would go on a button down shirt. "You're mother obviously dressed you," he smirked. "Hold on. I know what you want." He put her back in her crib and walked over to the dresser. He pulled out her black Escape The Fate onesie. After taking her out of the crib, he changed her into it. She stopped crying a little. Placing her back in her crib, he said, "And now your lullaby." He walked over to the iPod dock, placing his iPod in it (it was always in here to play for Julia). Turning it on, 'Carolyn' by Black Veil Brides, her nap song, came on. He went to artists, switching it to Escape The Fate. Once there, he pressed 'Something', her bedtime song. "Your mother also doesn't know what to play for you."

Julia stopped crying. She giggled when Eli put her blanket on her. He waited by her crib until she was asleep, two replays later. He blew her a kiss, not wanting to wake her up. After shutting off his iPod, he walked back into his bedroom and laid down in bed.

"How did you do it?" Clare groaned, noticing he was back. "I was with her for an hour. You took, what seven, eight minutes."

"Three words: Escape The Fate," Eli whispered before falling asleep.

"Oh, okay… Wait, what?"

* * *

"Please Julia," Eli begged his six-month-old daughter. "Say it again. Come on, you can do it. Say it: daddy!" He was excited, probably one of the most excited he's ever been in his life, defiantly top five. "Please? Before your mom comes home! Please?"

She starred at him, confused, and tilted her head.

He chuckled. "Okay, we know you're cute, but please!"

"Daddy," she said, giggling.

His mouth dropped, a smile then formed. "Yes! YES! She said it!"

"Said what?" Clare asked, walking through the door.

"SHE SAID HER FIRST WORD AND IT WAS DADDY AND…" he rambled.

"Wait! Breathe Eli! I'm going to tell you the same thing you told me: stop, rewind, and play."

"Julia said Daddy!" He exclaimed.

"Really? That's awesome!" She picked up Julia. "Next you're going to learn how to say mommy." She balanced her on her hip. "I've never seen you so excited about anything before."

"Well, she's my daughter and she said daddy first. So I'm going to be excited," he answered, following Clare into the kitchen.

"And the four pots of coffee had nothing to do with it?" Clare asked, looking in the sink at the coffee papers. "And why are they in the sink?"

"Well, maybe that helped a tad," Eli smirked.

"Wow, Eli. That's kind of sad."

"How?"

"Just is."

"DADDY!" Julia exclaimed, reaching out to Eli."

"Come here." He took her from Clare and held her up. "Who's Daddy's little smart girl?"

"I was going to say: isn't she a little young to say her first word? I said mine at nine-months-old," Clare asked.

"Well, she is our daughter," Eli reminded her. "And when she came to the past, she did tell us she skipped three grades, four in English! This just proves she's a freaking genius."

"Fine." She looked inside her bag, then threw his iPod at him. "But it's time for the freaking genius's nap. I already have her nap song on."

"Okay!" He caught his iPod and took Julia to her room. Laying her down in her crib, he placed his iPod on the dock. After turning it on, "Love Story" by Taylor Swift came on. "Your mother does not accept your music choices." He turned it to the artist section. "What will it be today, Madame Julia? Black Veil Bride or Three Days Grace? Right hand for Black Veil Brides, left for Three Days Grace." She reached up with her left hand. "Three Days Grace it is for the little lady," he smirked, then turned on "Break" before going towards the door. Once he was outside of her room, he shut her door, bumping into Clare.

"You do not act like the you I met when you're around Julia," she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"It that a bad thing?" he smirked, putting his hands on her waist.

"Not at all. I think it's kind of sexy," she smirked back, then kissed him.

"Really?" He kissed her back.

"Oh, you guys make me sick!" Adam groaned from the other end of the hall.

"ADAM?" Clare shrieked, obviously scared.

"Clare, Julia's asleep," Eli whispered.

"Sorry," Clare whispered, before walking towards Adam. "What are you doing here?"

"It's Fiona's and my day to watch Julia while you guys catch up on school. It's Saturday; we come every Saturday," Adam answered.

"Hi," Fiona called from the living room couch.

"Oh, yeah," Eli remembered. "Sorry. We just put Julia down for a nap and she said her first word, so I guess we were just… excited?"

"Aw! She said her first word!" Fiona exclaimed.

"Yep. Daddy," Clare said, pointing her thumb to Eli. "He was so excited, you would have thought Dead Hand was right in our living room."

"Well, I'm sorry! You would be freaking out too if she said mommy!"

"Aw! Eli's turned into a daddy," Adam said in the baby voice, mocking him.

"Ha, ha, shut up," Eli groaned, taking his English homework from the kitchen table. Journalism was his major. He already had a job as a music critic for a big magazine lined up.

"So how's everything going, you know, with Julia and school work?" Fiona asked, handing Clare a to-go coffee cup from The Dot.

"Thank you," Clare said, grabbing the second cup. "Pretty good, I guess. I mean, we're not failing our classes and Julia's fed and clothed and happy, so we're doing good."

"Um, that one's Eli's…" Fiona drifted off.

"Trust me. He's had enough," Clare giggled, pointing towards the coffee maker.

"You know what? N-N-No! No! Four pots are not enough coffee! You can never have enough coffee!" Eli screamed.

"Eli! Julia!" Clare warned.

"It's decaf," Fiona whispered, going back to the living room.

"Here you go," Clare said, cheerfully, handing Eli the cup.

"Thank you," Eli sighed, taking a sip. "Decaf. You guys hate me!"

"Okay, Eli, I know a good rehab center," Adam started, "because you're obviously **ADDICTED **to coffee!"

"Hey! You try going into journalism **AND **having a half-year-old daughter who can not go to sleep unless you are in the room and she wakes up three times a night wanting you and see how much of a coffee addicted you are!" Eli yelled, then went back to working quietly.

"He may talk like that, but he's a huge softy around her. Half the time, I go in when she wakes up and he ends up coming, not because I call him to come, he just does. He loves that little girl," Clare whispered, then took a sip of her coffee.

"Hey, quit telling them things that are true!" Eli called from the kitchen. They laughed at him before they heard Julia cry.

"I'll get her," Fiona offered, standing up.

"No, I'll get her!" Eli exclaimed, almost running out of the kitchen. "She's calling for daddy!"

"See what I mean. I'm not quite sure if it's his fatherly instincts or the caffeine." Clare started her homework while Adam and Fiona snuggled up on the couch. Eli can back into the living room, hold a bundle in a dark purple blanket.

"She didn't want to go back to sleep," Eli stated, bouncing Julia lightly in his arms.

"But she was just put down about 15 minutes ago," Clare remembered, worried.

"Aw, Clare, let her play! She wants to see her Uncle Adam," Adam said in baby voice, taking Julia from Eli. "Maybe she's picked up on your coffee addiction."

"Not funny, Adam. You can make fun of me all you want, but leave Julia out of it," Eli warned heading back into the kitchen.

"Yeah, until she can talk and starts making fun of you with me," Adam retorted, joining Eli in the kitchen. Eli handed him a bottle to give to Julia before heading back to his homework. "So how's the homework coming?"

"Good. I'm almost done," Eli answered.

"You've just started."

"You're point…?" Eli asked, writing down his name on his paper. "I get a lot of my work done in Julia's room, waiting for her to fall asleep at night. Coffee helps."

"I see. Cool. You really have turned into a softy," Adam laughed.

"You have a kid and come see me. You'll be a softy too," Eli answered, taking Julia back.

"No, no, no!" Adam took her back. "You're going to crash any minute now."

"What? No, I'm n…" He started, then felled down, sleeping, out like a light.

"What was that?" Clare yelled. "Is Julia okay?"

"She's fine," Adam answered, walking back into the living room. "Eli just crashed."

"Thank God," Clare sighed. "He could use the sleep. I don't think he's slept in three days."

"Wow," Fiona sighed. "Julia?"

"Julia."

"Softy!"

* * *

ELI!" Clare yelled from down the hall. "ELI, COME HERE! HURRY!" Eli rolled over, sluggishly, out of bed. "IT'S JULIA!" Clare yelled. Eli heard that and ran to Julia's room.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked, fully awake.

"Feel her forehead," Clare demanded, holding Julia out to Eli. Once he placed the back of his hand on her forehead, his noticed she felt very warm.

"Have you taken her temperature?"

"I was going to. I just wanted to know if she really did or if it was just me."

She gave Eli Julia as she went to look for the temple thermometer. He looked down at his daughter. Even if the dim nightlight light, he could tell her cheeks were very pink in color and her eyes looked into his eyes, pleading for him to make her feel better. "Daddy…" Julia whispered.

"It's okay, Julia," Eli tried to comfort her as Clare put the thermometer to her temple. After a couple of seconds, a beep ran through the room. "Well?" he asked, as Clare read the thermometer.

"Oh, my God. 101.9 degrees! Eli, she has a fever!"

"Clare, it's just a fever. Calm down."

"What do we do? What do we do? I don't think our pediatrician would be thrilled if we called at 3 am." By now, she was pacing around the room, trying to figure out the situation.

"I said calm down!" Eli demanded. He handed her Julia and sat her down in the rocking chair. "I'll call my mom, okay? She'll know what to do." Going into the kitchen, he found the phone and pressed speed dial 2 (let's just say: Mrs. Goldsworthy is called a lot).

"Hello?" he heard his mother groan sleepily.

"Sorry to wake you up, Mom, but Julia has a fever."

"It's okay. I told you to call me whenever you needed. Does she have a runny nose or just a fever?" his mom sighed, her tone changing.

"Just a fever. Okay, so what do we do?"

"This is what we did when you were first sick. Step one: tell Clare to go to back to bed."

"Okay… wait, what?" He was confused.

"Trust me, you won't want her to see you," she giggled.

"Fine." He walked back into Julia's room. "Okay, put Julia back in the crib and go to bed, Clare."

"Why?" Clare asked, laying Julia down in her crib.

"Don't question my mother." He kissed her cheek. "Just go back to bed, okay?"

"Fine. Good luck." She kissed him back, then kissed Julia's burning forehead before going back to bed.

"Now what?" Eli asked.

"Take Julia to the living room open a window," she commanded.

"What?" Eli questioned, but still picked up Julia. "Okay, whatever you say." He placed her on the couch, while he opened the window behind it. He felt to warm draft "Now?"

"Now lay down on couch."

"Okay…" He picked up Julia and laid down on the couch. "Now?"

"Place Julia on your chest."

"Okay…" He did as he was told.

"Now wait for her to go to sleep. Then you can."

"How is this supposed to help?" Eli asked.

"I don't know. It worked for you. Just trust me. It'll work for tonight, until you can call the pediatrician," Eli's mom explained.

"Okay, fine. Thanks Mom," Eli sighed.

"It's the least I could do, Baby Boy. Call me when you take her to doctor, okay?"

"Okay. Love you, Mom."

"Love you, too. And tell Julia I love her, too," she said, before hanging up.

"You're grandmother says she loves you," Eli chuckled, hanging up. He circled his finger around her back, trying to calm her down. He did that for about ten minutes until he could tell that she was asleep. He could feel the cool air rush from the window as it moved her hair into her face. He moved her head from her face, seeing how cute his daughter was when she was asleep. _"Yep,"_ he thought, _"Defiantly not dating until she's forty."_

**

* * *

**Eli heard Julia giggling, squealing, "Morty! Morty!" from the back seat. He smiled. 'Morty' was her fifth word; he had been counting.

"Someday, he'll be yours, Jules," Eli chuckled. "On your 16th birthday, maybe, but not now, not on your first."

She was playing with his iPod, hitting button after button, changing from Escape The Fate to Three Days Grace to Black Veil Brides and back. It was a special playlist called 'Julia'. She never stayed on one song too long, until she reached her favorite song, 'Issues' by Escape The Fate.

"Issues!" Julia giggled, even though it sounded more like 'Ithues'.

"Ah, you Craig Mabbitt crazed fan girl, you," Eli sighed.

"Craig?" Julia squealed, looking around as if he were right outside the car.

"_Now if she would say 'Daddy' and 'Mommy', we would round out the words she can say," _Eli thought, putting Morty in park. He looked back at his daughter, who gave him a confused look, her eye saying, "Did we just go from a hearse ride around the block to come back home?"

"Sorry, Julia. It was your mom's idea," he apologized, picking her up out of Morty. She wrapped her arms around his neck; she wasn't a big fan of heights. "It's okay," Eli chuckled. "I won't drop you." Since he was holding Julia, he kicked the door, hoping someone would hear.

"What's the password?" A voice asked from behind the door.

"Well, Adam, it's my house, so it doesn't have a password."

"Nope," Adam replied.

"Craig!" Julia exclaimed.

"Correct!" Adam answered, opened the door. "Only the girl can get in."

"Adam, shut up," Eli sighed, smirking. He set Julia down, moving her into the decorated house. "Wow, you and Clare really went all out for a birthday party she probably will not remember."

"Hey, I'm sorry, but this is a special moment! I've been a godfather for a year!" Adam exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm afraid for when you have your own kids. They will be spoiled 24/7."

"Most likely!" Adam agreed.

"Eli! Come here and help me!" Clare called from the kitchen.

"Watch Julia?" Eli asked, walking towards the kitchen. He didn't get an answer, because Adam was already chasing Julia around the living room.

"Oh, I worry," Eli sighed, tasting some of the icing Clare was putting the tiny cake.

"Hey!" She smacked his hand with icing spatula. "That's for Julia! So why are you worried?"

"Well, where to began? I'm worried about Adam, because he turns into a little kid around Julia. Look!" He pointed through the kitchen window to the living room, seeing Adam on the ground on his stomach with Julia on his back, both laughing.

"I think it's cute," Clare said, putting the spatula in the sink.

"And I'm worried about Julia… well, future Julia, future dude-magnet Julia," he sighed.

"Aw, Eli," Clare sighed, putting her arm on his shoulder and her hand on top of his. "You sound like such a dad. But we'll have to deal with boys sometime. We know we can't stop them. Let's just enjoy the time we have where she thinks boys are gross."

"The third word she learn to say was 'Craig'," he reminded her, then smirked, "I think we're passed that point."

"Daddy! Mommy!" Julia squealed, running to the kitchen.

"Hey, birthday girl!" Clare exclaimed, picking her up.

"Oh, my God. She just put 'boxer' on her list of future profession," Adam chuckled, catching his breath.

"She's one," Eli said. "She doesn't know what a profession is."

"Technically, she's not one, yet, Eli," Clare reminded him. "It's not 2:13."

"You know the exact time she was born?" Adam asked.

"Yeah. You remember that type of stuff," Clare answered. "So where's Fiona?"

"Out last minute clothes shopping for Julia with Alli," Adam replied. "Yeah, they defiantly spoil her."

The doorbell rang. Julia ran towards it, only to be caught by Eli, who scooped her up. She giggled as he opened the door.

"Hi, Baby Boy!" his mom squealed, coming into the house.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad," he answered, closing the door.

"Let me see my grandbaby!"

"Here you go. Go to grandma." He handed Julia to Cece.

"Where's Clarabell?" Bullfrog asked.

"Kitchen. Getting ready," he answered. He was about to walk back to kitchen, but the bell rang again.

"HEY!" Fiona and Alli shrieked, holding about 5 shopping bags each.

"Oh, God…" Eli sighed, noticing the number of bags. "Are you guys trying to shove clothes down her throat?"

"That's the plan," Fiona joked, going into the living room. Eli followed. His parents were playing with Julia, Alli was separating clothes by color and outfits, and Fiona and Adam were snuggling on the coach. _"This was going to be a long day."_

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... _

"Finally, peace and quiet," Eli sighed, flopping down on the couch. The party was over; everyone had left. Wrapping and tissue paper were everywhere, along with clothes.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Julia shrieked, running over to him. She held up her Escape The Fate shirt Eli had gotten her. "Craig!"

"Glad you like it," he smirked. He sat, then picked her up. "Someone needs to be getting to bed. When you wake up, you'll be one." He carried her to her room. She held up her Escape The Fate shirt again, so he put that on her. "I love you, Julia. Good night," he whispered as he turned on 'Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliché' by Escape The Fate.

"Can you believe that in a minute, we have parents for a whole year?" Clare asked, after Eli shut the door.

"Not really, but it true," he answered, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.

"I know," she sighed, then kissed him. She checked Eli's watch. "She's one in 3… 2… 1…"

**

* * *

****Well? Epic Failure? I know it was… So? Did you like it? I totally made Eli sound very un-Eli-ish in section 2, but coffee does that to people. Ha Ha! I'm going to skip age 2 and go to age 3 (because I can't think of anything for age 2). **

**So stay tuned! If you want to make a random person extremely happy, you will hit those blue words down there and leave me a non-harsh review! Please?**


	5. Julia Age 3

**Hey, People who are actually still reading this! Thank you! This is my holiday present to you! Happy Holidays!**

**I got a question from a reviewer that asked if Alli knew about when they came to the past. The answer: no. Alli wasn't in 'The Kids of the Kids of Degrassi' and only the mother and father will remember their kids, meaning that only Eli and Clare will remember Julia even coming to the past, not Adam, not KC, not even Jenna. Clear? Okay, just wanted to clarify.**

**Enjoy?**

* * *

"You're putting me in what?" Julia asked, taking an earbud out.

"Your mother, I, and some very special people feel that you're capable and smart enough to start the first grade," Eli answered.

"You mean, you want me to skip pre-school AND kindergarten?" She took the other earbud out and turned off her dad's iPod.

"Yes. You start next week."

"NEXT WEEK?" she shrieked, her big, green eyes growing wide with fear. "You're only giving me a week to prepare?"

"Well, you and your mom already got your school supplies. What do you need to prepare?"

"MY OUTFIT!" she shrieked. "Do I wear my Black Veil Brides shirt with my black and gray anime schoolgirl skirt or my Escape The Fate shirt and my black skinny jeans?"

"Ah, you get that from Aunt Fiona and Aunt Alli," Eli sighed.

"Eli! Come here!" Clare called from down the hall.

"Well, you think about that, Julia Mabbitt." He ruffled her shoulder blade length, chocolate brown hair. Julia Mabbitt was one of his nicknames for her, obviously for Craig Mabbitt. He walked towards the bathroom, where Clare had called from. "What's up?"

Her face looked pale and her eyes scared. She held up an item wrapped in a paper towel, putting it in his hand. "L-Look."

He unwrapped it, pulling out a plastic stick with a pink plus sign on top. "You… You mean…"

"Eli… I'm pregnant…"

His breathing became deeper and heavier. He had to sit down. He just about ran to their bedroom.

"Are you mad?" Clare asked, following him.

"No. It's just… you're finishing up school and my paycheck in just enough to get us by. How can we afford another baby?"

"Well, I could get a job," she offered.

"No. You need to focus on school. And by the time you get out, you'll be in your third trimester and I definitely will not let you work then. I will sick Julia on you," he smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

But it wasn't working. Clare's eyes started to fill with tears and a couple fell over. "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry? It's not like you planned this. And I helped, too."

"We just don't need this now," she cried. "It's all my fault. I should have known that I could get pregnant when we… you know." She didn't say the technical term in fear that Julia may be listening.

"It's both of our faults," Eli sighed. "But he's in there and I'm okay with it. He's my son, so I love him."

"He?" she asked.

"Yeah, remember? LA, Little Adam?"

"Oh, yeah. This is Little Adam!" Clare exclaimed, placing her hand on her stomach.

"Who's Little Adam?" A small voice squealed from behind the door.

"Come in, Julia," Eli commanded, smirking at Clare.

Meekly, she stepped in the room, opening the door as if it would break if she pushed it too hard. "Sorry for eavesdropping…"

"It's okay, Jules. Your mom and I have something we have to tell you."

"And that would be…?"

"You're going to have a little brother," Clare said.

Julia's face was glowing. Her face had the biggest smile. If they could, her eyes would be smiling. "Really?" she exclaimed. "That's AMAZING!" She hugged both of parents.

"Well, that went over better than I thought," Clare whispered.

"Wait!" Julia pulled back. "Is he going to be like me? 'Cause you guys can barely handle one of me."

They laughed at their daughter. "We don't know. He'll probably have his own personality, honey," Clare answered.

"Oh, my God!" she squealed, gripping her Three Days Grace shirt she was wearing until her knuckles turned white. "This is awesome! I've got to go prepare!"

"Wait, Julia!" Eli called, trying to stop her and tell her she has about eight months to do that, but she was already out the door.

"Awesome," Clare sighed. "Just peachy."

* * *

"Oh, dear God," Julia sighed, looking around the room, a bunch of bigger kids running around, looking for their desks and friends. "Shoot me now. You guys are trying to kill me!"

"Well, you could be a little more optimistic," Clare suggested, flattening loose hairs on Julia's head.

"Yeah, optimism: not really my style," Julia groaned.

"This is your fault!" Clare mouthed to Eli.

"What did I do?" he mouthed back.

"Oh, my God! Julia!" a squeaky voice squealed.

"Brookie?" Julia asked as a girl with wavy blonde hair and a pink dress came running up. "Brookie! Oh, my God!"

"What are you doing here?" Brookie asked.

"I'm apparently so smart, I get to skip some grades."

"That's so cool! Come on! Sit by me!" Brookie grabbed Julia's wrist, pulling her to a set of desks.

"Okay!" Julia squealed, following the only friend she had that was even close to her age.

"Was that Brookie Guthrie?" Eli asked, watching his little girl run headfirst into social interaction.

"Oh, yeah!" Clare remembered. "KC and Jenna's daughter is six!"

"Well, that would have been nice to tell her so I wouldn't have had to drag her out of the house!"

"Well, sorry," Clare smirked, as another woman walked up to them.

"You must be the parents of Julia Goldsworthy," she said, doing that professional smile thing.

"Um, yeah. That would be us," Clare answered. "I'm Clare and this is my husband, Eli."

"I'm Mrs. Morris. I'll be Julia's teacher." She shook both of their hands. "Since she's half the age of the kids here, I know you must be worried."

"We were a little, but now we know she has someone she's met before here," Clare answered, gesturing towards a giggling Julia and Brookie.

"Ah, Brookie Guthrie," Mrs. Morris noticed. "Sweet girl, very nice."

"Yeah, we know her parents. She was actually the flower girl at our wedding."

"Aw! That's sweet," she commented. "Now, do you have any questions you want to ask me?"

"Not really. She's very bright," Eli answered. "She's teaching herself division. But we must warn you: she's extremely sarcastic, hates a lot of things, doesn't like any music except rock, and isn't very social with new people. Just a heads up!" Mrs. Morris's eyes went wide at the list. "Oh, there's more; I just can't think of any at the top of my head."

"O…kay. I'll be on the look out for those."

"Daddy! Mommy!" Julia ran up to them. "How long do I have to be here?"

"About seven hours," Eli answered.

"Crap…" she mumbled.

"Julia, what have I said about using that word?" Clare asked.

"Don't say it in public?" Julia asked.

"Your father's influence, no doubt," she groaned.

"Sorry, Mommy." Julia hugged her leg.

"It's okay. Now be good, make friends, and try not to burn down the school."

"No promises!" Julia giggled in a singsong tone.

"Thanks my girl," Eli chuckled ruffling her hair. "We have to go now, okay? Be good. Love you."

"Love you, too!" Julia hugged Eli, before running back to her desk, even though she was too short for it and had to sit on her knees to reach the desktop.

As Clare and Eli left the school, Clare started to tear up. "My baby's left the nest."

"Clare, she'll be home in seven hours," he tried to comfort her.

"But she's never been without one of us for that long. It worries me."

"She'll be fine. Hey, she is my daughter," Eli smirked.

"That's another thing that worries me," she joked as Eli pulled way.

* * *

"Where are you going, Daddy?" Julia asked, looking up from her picture.

"Well, Jules, I got another job," Eli said, sitting down at the kitchen table, trying to see his daughter picture. "With your brother coming, we could use whatever help we can get."

"Oh…" she sighed, disappointed. "When are you coming back? Hand me the black, please?"

"I should be home around 10," he answered, handing her the black crayon.

"10? PM?" Eli nodded. "But you won't be home to play my music for me…"

"Julia Carolyn, you can sing every Escape the Fate song perfectly, you can draw like a very talented 10-year-old, and you're teaching yourself long division when most kids your age are learning the alphabet," Eli stated. "I think you can turn an iPod to your night song."

"Yeah, but it won't be the same…" Julia replied. "Wait. Kids my age aren't learning long division? Next you're going to tell me they can't read 'The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod' series either."

"Most can't even read Dr. Suess," Eli chuckled. "Julia, you're a special child, but in a good way. You have the brain of a nine-year-old. I have faith in you that you can work an iPod."

"Fine," she sighed, finishing with the black crayon. "I'll try, but do me a favor."

"And that would be…"

"Display this proudly!" She held up her picture. She had drawn a dark brown haired guy with a chocolate brown haired girl that came to his knee in beginner Japanese manga style. "That's you." She pointed to the guy. "And that's me! I got bored when I woke up."

"Damn. I can't even draw like this," Eli said. "I know adults that can't draw like this."

"Hey, it comes with the territory," Julia replied, placing her hands behind her head.

"And that territory would be…"

"Being a freak," she answered, proudly.

"Julia Carolyn Goldsworthy, you are not a freak."

"Ugh, I hate when you use my full name!"

"You sound like a teenager!"

"I know she does," Clare giggled, coming into the kitchen. "She's defiantly yours."

"Hey." They kissed as he got up from the table. "And I know she is. She looks like the girl form of me."

"Oh, get a room!" Julia complained, after they kissed again.

"We have one. Go up the stairs and it's the first door on the right," he retorted.

"Oh, har har," Julia faked laughed. "Funny, Daddy."

"Well, I better be off." He kissed Clare, then Julia's forehead. "Love you guys."

"Bye, Daddy!" Julia yelled before the front door shut. She sighed.

"He's going to be back," Clare comforted her.

"I know… So, when's my brother going to be here?"

"5 months, same as yesterday," Clare answered, sitting next to her. "Hand me the blue," she said, grabbing a piece of paper from the pile Julia had on the table.

* * *

"If I go crazy then will you still call me superman!" Julia sang at the top of her lungs as she did her math homework.

"Rocking to the oldies?" Clare asked, coming into the room.

"Hey, 'Kryptonite' by 3 Doors Down isn't that old!" she defended.

"It's 16 years olds. That's a while," Clare giggled, sitting down on Julia's purple bed.

"Fine. Whatever you say, Mommy," she gave in, still focusing on her homework. "So when's Daddy coming home?"

"That's what I came in here to tell you," Clare sighed, her voice tone dripping with a mixture of sadness and guilt. "Your dad isn't going to be home tonight."

"Again? I didn't get to see him yesterday; I didn't get to see him the day before yesterday, the day before that, or the day before that! When will I ever see him?"

"Julia, don't be upset. Your dad is doing this for you and your brother."

"I know! It's just… rough," Julia admitted.

"I know, but in three months, your dad will be here a lot more."

"Three months? I don't think I can wait three months!"

"I know you can, Julia, because you're your dad's daughter. You have his strength, physical and emotional."

"I get that, Mom. I've been told almost everyday of my life," she sighed.

"That's because it's true!" Clare giggled. "Maybe we can go visit your dad at work for a couple minutes, then head over to Uncle Adam and Aunt Fiona's house."

"Really, Mom?" Julia squealed. "That sounds awesome! Just give me a couple minutes to finish my homework and change into a better outfit." She motioned to her black with purple skulls pajama pants and her plain black shirt.

Clare laughed, ruffled Julia's hair, and went out of her room and down the stairs to the kitchen. She pulled out a water bottle and the container of apple juice from the refrigerator. After pouring the apple juice into Julia's purple pop-top cup, she sat down on the couch, waiting for Julia to come down.

"Ready!" Julia called, her bedroom door shutting. Clare stood up, throwing her purse over her shoulder.

_BOOM, BOOM, BANG!_

"Ow!" Julia yelped from the stairway.

"Julia? Are you okay?" Clare called, looking at the fallen Julia.

She started to stand. "Yeah. Yeah, I should be…" _CRACK!_ "No, no, I'm not. Ow, my arm."

"Let me see." Clare reached for her arm, but as once she moved it, Julia pulled it back.

"OW! Don't touch it!" Julia screamed.

"Okay, we're canceling our plans," Clare said, quickly ushering her out the door. "We're taking you to the hospital."

"What? Why?"

"Well, if you haven't noticed, you've hurt your arm. We're getting it checked out." She buckled Julia in.

"Okay, Mom."

... ... ...

Eli was filing some teen books at work, trying not to die of boredom. _"All that is out now for teens are vampire. What, do these kids not listen to anyone mortal anymore?"_ He wondered what was going on at home, if everyone was okay. Julia was probably doing homework, listening to Escape The Fate; Clare was probably watch Lifetime Movie Network.

_Click! Click! Click!_

His phone interrupted his thoughts. He checked his phone, seeing it was a message from Clare.

_**Call me as soon as you get this. -Clare**_

"_Is it the baby?" _Eli thought as he started to panic. He pressed speed dial 2, Clare's number.

"Eli?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Clare? What's wrong? Is it our baby?"

"Yeah…"

"What's wrong with Adam?" Now he was full on panicking.

"Wrong baby," Clare answered.

He hesitated for a moment _"Julia."_ "What happened to Julia?"

"I'm sorry. I've got to go. Just come to the hospital when you get a chance. Love you."

"Wait! What? What happen to Julia? Clare! Don't…" All he got was a dead line. "Damnit!"

"What's wrong, son?" his boss asked in a thick southern accent.

"It's my daughter. My wife just called and said that she was in the hospital and I don't know why."

"Well, what are you doin' here, boy?" his boss asked. "Go!"

"You mean it?" Eli asked, standing up.

"Yes. How old is your daughter?"

"She's three."

"Ah, to have my daughters to be three again…" he sighed. "Go. She needs you."

"Thank you so much," he called out, basically running towards the door.

... ... ...

Eli ran into the hospital waiting room, looking for Clare.

"Eli?" He heard his name being called. He turned his head, seeing Clare.

"Clare," he sighed, pulling her into a hug. "Where's Julia? What happened?"

"Come with me," Clare commanded, taking him by the hand. "We were coming to visit you, because Julia really missed you, and when she was coming down the stairs, she slip and fell. She broke her arm."

"Ouch," Eli groaned. What he really wanted to do was kick himself for not being there.

"She's really missed you, so try to comfort her," Clare suggested, before she opened up the door. Julia was trying to climb out of the window. "Julia, no!" Clare yelled, grabbing her and setting her back on the bed.

"Fine. DADDY!" Julia screamed, attaching herself to Eli's leg.

"Hey, Jules. How are you feeling?"

"My arm hurts, the back of my leg hurts, because I have a big bruise on it from when I fell down the stairs… and upset…" she admitted, her eyes starting to water.

"Why?" Eli asked, laying her down on the bed.

The tears fell over. "Do you remember what you told me that night when I had that bad dream about that murderer?"

"Yeah…" he answered, not knowing where she was taking this.

"Remember what you told me?" Eli stared at her, trying to remember. "You said…" Her voice started to sound like she was crying. "You said that you wouldn't let anything happen to me; you'll always be there to protect me, to catch me when I fall." She sniffled. "Where were you when I fell? Where were you to protect me?"

He took in what she said, the sight of his daughter crying because of him killed him. "I'm so sorry, Julia. But…"

"I know, I know. This is for us, but…" She couldn't even look at him anymore. "C-Can you just leave me alone for a while?" Julia asked, lying on her side.

"Julia…" Clare sighed, trying to make it so no one heard her.

"Julia, please, let me…"

"Leave me alone!" Julia interrupted him, her tears acting like a waterfall. "Please…"

He stared at his daughter, wishing that none of this had happened. He sighed, nodded, then kissed her forehead, before walking out. He leaned against the wall, sliding down to the ground.

"Eli?" Clare asked, closing the room door. She sat down next to him. "She didn't even cry until you got here. Are you okay?"

"My daughter hates me," Eli whispered, staring at the wall in front of him.

"She doesn't hate you," Clare assured. "All of this has been really hard on her. She's three. She's used to her daddy always being there for her."

He smirked. "She acts like a teenager. It's hard to believe she's three."

"I know, right," she smiled, only until she saw Eli's smirk fading.

"Are we doing the right thing?"

Clare sighed, standing up. "Eli, she'll come to realize that this was for the best."

"I hope so." He stood up with her. "It's hard to believe your seven months pregnant."

"I know. I'm just that awesome," Clare joked, pulling Eli closer to her, until they were kissing in the almost deserted hallway.

* * *

"Hey, Julia!" Brookie called, running to her desk.

"Hey, what's up?" Julia asked, designing the 'CM' inside the heart she drew on her purple cast.

"CM?" Brookie asked, looking at Julia's drawing. "You are the youngest fan girl I have ever met!"

"Hey, Craig Mabbitt is awesome!" Julia defended.

"Fine. Whatever you say," Brookie sighed. "TGIF. So do you know what Monday is?"

"The start of Shark Week?" Julia guessed, her eyebrows scrunching together.

"NO! You're birthday is next week! You're going to be four!"

"Oh, yeah," Julia sighed, turning the Sharpie to her nails, going back and forth between black and purple.

"Why aren't you excited?"

"I don't know. I'm just not."

"It's about your dad, isn't it?"

"Maybe…"

"Julia, come on. Your dad was really depressed about that. We know he doesn't want to do this, but it has to be done."

"Wow, you sound like an old lady," Julia mumbled, as Mrs. Morris began passing out papers. Julia threw the Sharpies into her pocket.

"Shut up!" Brookie giggled before she began her paper.

... ... ...

"Julia! Come here!"

"Coming!" Julia yelled back, taking the iPod from the dock. She ran downstairs and into the kitchen, where her mom was standing with two boxes.

"Okay, important question: chocolate or vanilla?"

"Chocolate," Julia answered, not hesitating. "But with vanilla frosting."

"Can do," Clare said, opening the chocolate cake mix box. Julia sat down at the table and started playing with a spatula. "So is there anything you want for your birthday?"

"Not really, except what I want everyday," Julia sighed, as she handed Clare the spatula.

"World domination and Craig Mabbitt?"

"Well, that," Julia giggled. "And Daddy to be there."

"Well, we have a surprise for you," Clare said. "Your dad got the day off tomorrow."

"You mean, he's going to be here all day?" Julia smiled.

"Yeah. And he has a big surprise for you," Clare smiled back. It felt good to see her little girl happy again.

"Oh, my God! What is it?" she exclaimed, standing up on the chair.

"I'm not telling you!" Clare laughed. "You'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"Fine, fine," Julia groaned.

"Good. Now go to bed. It's almost nine."

"But I want to stay up for Daddy!" she protested.

"Honey, you did that all weekend and ended up falling asleep on the couch. You have school tomorrow. You need sleep."

Julia sighed and stepped off the chair. "Fine. Love you, Mommy." She hugged Clare's leg. "Love you, little bro," she said to Clare's stomach before she headed upstairs.

Clare turned her attention back to the cake batter. Just a little more stirring, pour into a pan, throw in the oven, and then she can relax with Lifetime Movie Network. They were playing her favorite movie that night. As she threw the pan into the oven, the front door flew open.

"Hello?" Eli called in, putting a random hat on coat rack.

"Do you keep a random hat in Morty just to do what working men do in old TV shows?" Clare asked, wiping her hands with a towel.

"Yep. Makes me feel important," Eli smirked, then kissed Clare.

"You are important, Eli, especially to a certain almost four-year-old girl."

"Oh, yeah! Her surprise is right here!" Eli pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket.

"She is going to freak!" Clare exclaimed.

"I hope so," Eli chuckled. "I just can't believe you're actually allowing me to do this."

"Me neither," Clare giggled, sitting down on the couch. "Can you do me a big favor?"

"Sure," Eli said, sitting down next to her. She put her head up against Eli's shoulder. "What is it?"

"When the oven dings, can you take out the cake?" Clare asked, smiling up at him. "I just don't feel like getting up."

Eli chuckled. "Sure. Anything for you and Little Adam."

Clare smiled even more. "Thank you. And Little Adam thanks you, too." She slid his hand onto her stomach. "Only two more months."

"Yep. Can't wait." And he meant it.

... ... ...

"Where are we going?" Julia asked.

"Patience, Grasshopper!" Eli smirked, pulling Morty into the parking area.

Julia's birthday had been good. Her friends from school were there: Brookie and… well, Brookie was it. She didn't have many friends. It worried Eli, but Julia told him she liked to be alone. She was so excited about Adam, whose one of her best friends. He turns into a three-year-old around her. Fiona and Alli took the opportunity to "improve" Julia's wardrobe. And his parents were there, obviously. She was their first grandbaby; they love her to death. His mom almost suffocated her in a hug. The shocker: Clare's parents came. They never really liked Eli (or each other in the same room), but he guessed they put aside their differences to be happy for their granddaughter. But all of that was just the cake. Eli's surprise was the icing on it. No, it was the top layer of icing, the color written words in icing, and multi-colored sprinkles!

"You and I both know that I am not patient!" Julia protested.

"Okay, we're here," Eli said.

"Really?"

"No."

"Grr," Julia giggled.

Eli chuckled, then parked Morty. "I lied. We're here."

"Good," Julia sighed, as Eli opened her door. She looked up at the stadium in awe. "Where are we?"

Eli picked her up, carrying her towards the stadium. "We are at the greatest day of your young life."

"Well, that helps me so much," she answered, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Okay, the truth: inside that stadium is Escape The Fate."

Julia was silent for a moment. "Wait, what?"

"I am taking you to your first rock concert." Julia looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her head. "Please refrain from screaming. I need my eardrums, thank you."

"Oh, my God! I love you, Daddy!" She tightened her grip on his neck. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! How did you convince Mom to let you take me?"

"Honestly, I don't know either," Eli smirked. "But you are not to be out of my sight."

"Well, duh! So that's why you're carrying me?"

"That and I don't think you'll be able to see Craig Mabbitt."

"EEP!" She squealed.

... ... ...

"I LOVE YOU, CRAIG!" Julia yelled from Eli's shoulders. "I'M FOUR TODAY!"

"_Well, she seems to be having fun," _Eli thought, smiling. Escape The Fate was almost done with 'Issues' and Julia was freaking out, seeing that it was her favorite song. She was having the time of her life and that made Eli feel awesome. She was already wearing her new Escape The Fate shirt that was too big for her. But she didn't care. She would wear it as a dress and she did proudly.

Max noticed Julia and pointed her out to Craig. "It's awesome to see our younger fans here," he said after he finished the song, looking at Julia.

"I'M FOUR TODAY!" Julia yelled over the sound of the crowd.

"Well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Craig yelled back, before starting a new song.

"Oh, my God. Craig actually heard me… **and** wished me happy birthday," Julia said in shock. "THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

"I hope so," Eli smirked, laughing at his excited daughter, who was four… now.

* * *

**So, about the concert. I figured: this is something Eli would do. And what better present for Julia than her favorite singer to wish her a happy birthday. I would like that, though I'm a teenager, not a four-year-old. But Julia has the mind of a teenager, though. I wanted to make her special, so I didn't want her to act like normal little kids, so that's why she doesn't sound four. I've had people ask me that, so there's another clarification. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in your review. I read all of them and I will answer all of them, I promise, and I'll do my best to explain.**

**Epic Failure? **

**Thanks for Reading and Review please! Every review helps heal a broken soul: mine.**


	6. Julia Age 4 and 5 : Welcoming LA!

**Thanks for clicking on this little story! This is my last part… OF THE YEAR! Made you think I was quitting didn't i? … I didn't… oh, well! This is your End of the Year/Happy New Year present for my lovely readers!**

**Before the story, some thanks are due!**

**For the reviewer, ****aMaZiNg, I took the idea you gave me and added it to the part I was at (if you catch that part). Thank you. That was an 'aMaZiNg' (cheesy pun) idea!**

**And, before I start my story, I would like to thank a reviewer. They've reviewed for, I think, every chapter I have ever written. I want to thank Lyss for being such a loyal reviewer. Thank you!**

**Also Julia and Little Adam have a cute brother-sister moment and singing is involved! Just a tiny bit and it is very cute and sweet. ****Singing is underlined!**

**So Enjoy!**

* * *

"Daddy?" Julia asked into Clare's cell phone.

"What's wrong, Julia?" Eli sat up in his office chair.

"Mommy's having the baby," Julia said.

"What?"

"Mom's having LA," Julia answered. "Uncle Adam and I are in the waiting room."

"Who's with your mom?" Eli asked, rushing to back up his stuff.

"Aunt Fiona. Aunt Alli's on her way here. Uncle Adam called her."

"Why didn't he call me?"

"'Cause I wanted to call you," Julia asked cheerfully. "Just hurry, okay?"

"I'm on my way," he said, running towards the elevator. "Love you."

"Love you, too, Dad," she said, before she heard the line drop. "He's coming."

"Good," Adam sighed. "'Cause I don't know how much longer your mom can wait." Julia giggled. "So are you excited?"

"I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well, I am excited, but now I have to share Mom and Dad's attention," Julia smirked.

"Yeah, but, since I know you, I know that you don't like attention… from anyone."

"Good point," Julia giggled, then went back to playing with the iPod she shares with her dad. After about five minutes of that, Julia groaned, "Ugh!"

"What?"

"I'm bored."

"Obviously."

"Truth or truth?"

"What?"

"Since we can't really do truth or dare, we can do truth or truth. Now truth or truth?" Julia growled.

"Okay. It's a tough decision, but I've got to pick… truth."

"Okay…" she paused. "How many times have you watched 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'?"

His eyes went wide. He tried to hide his embarrassment behind a cough. "Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack," she smirked.

His gaze went towards the ground. He mumbled something.

"Huh? I didn't quite hear you!"

"Seven, okay? Off of the top of my head, I've watched it seven times!" The woman across from them looked up at Adam's outburst. "Her dance routine," he lied, trying to hide what his outburst was about.

"Seriously? That's the best you can come up with?" Julia turned towards the ladies. "Do I look like the dancing type?" She scanned her hand over her outfit: a plain black shirt with dark purple and black striped sleeves, her dark purple skirt, knee-length black legging, her black Converse high tops with purple laces, and her dark purple hair ribbon. They women laughed a little, then went back to their magazines.

"Don't ever make me do that again," Adam whispered.

"It's the price you pay for picking truth."

"It's the only opinion."

"So?"

Adam sighed, giving up. "Your turn. Truth or truth."

"So many choice," Julia joked. "Truth."

"Do you like boys yet?"

Julia's pale face turned bright red. "Um… Do famous guys count?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"Um… famous: yes. Guys that I see a lot, that are around my age, of course: no."

"That's some good info for your dad to know."

"You can't tell Daddy!"

"And why not?"

"'Cause I'll tell him about 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling P-'"

Adam threw his hand over her mouth. "Fine. I won't tell him. But what happens in this waiting room, stays in this waiting room. Got it?" Julia nodded. "Good. OW!" Adam released his hand from Julia's mouth. "Did you just bite me?"

"I don't like when people cover my mouth," Julia said. "I have a hard time breathing through my nose."

"Okay, sorry," Adam apologized as he saw a black blur run past the waiting room. "Was that…?"

"Daddy? Yeah," Julia answered. "He'll turn around in five, four, three, two…"

"Where's Clare?" Eli demanded, running back to the waiting room.

"One," Julia smirked.

"Last door, straight ahead," Adam answered.

"Thank you." He ran ahead, then turned around. "Hey, Adam, thanks for keeping Julia company." He quickly kissed the top of Julia's head. "Hey, Jules."

"Hey, Daddy," she said as he ran out of the waiting room.

"Da… Wow, he's excited," Adam sighed, trying to keep his language G rated.

"You can say damn if you want," Julia said. "Dad says it in front of me"

He stared at her, not believing the word 'damn' came out of a four-year-old's mouth. "Um… y-you shouldn't say that. Do I have to… like… scrub your mouth with soap?"

"Your new at this, aren't you?" Julia asked. "Usually, but your nicer than a lot of people." She gave him big, puppy eyes.

He couldn't ignore their power. "F-Fine! What's happens in the waiting room, stays in the waiting room."

"Thank you, Uncy Adam," she said in a baby voice.

"How do you get me and your dad wrapped around your finger?"

"It's a gift," Julia giggled, crossing her arms in a matter-of fact way.

Fiona walked in, holding onto her bruised hand. "I'm going to need surgery."

"Clare?"

"Clare," Fiona answered.

**... ... ...**

"What am I looking at?" Julia asked, peering into a room.

"That baby wrapped in blue right there," Eli answered, holding Julia up by his knee. He pointed to a blue bundle in front of them. "He's your brother."

"That's LA?" Julia asked. "He's tiny."

"You were that size once," Eli chuckled. "You were actually smaller."

"Wow…" she gasped. "That's… amazing."

"Yeah, it is," he agreed. "He's coming home tomorrow."

"So Mom and I have our hands full, huh?" Julia smirked, trying to joke.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that." He took her off of his knee and led her to the other side of the hallway. He sat down, sliding against the wall.

"What's wrong?" Julia asked, sitting down next to him.

"I got a promotion at the magazine," he said.

"And that means…"

"I'm going to be home a lot more."

Her eyes grew wide in delight. The world's biggest smile spread across her face. "Really?"

"Yeah," he laughed, happy to see his daughter happy.

She threw her arms around her dad's neck. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

He patted her back. "Who are you thanking?"

She blushed. "This is going to sound really weird, mostly because it's September, but Santa. It was my Christmas wish. Merry very early Christmas to me!"

Eli chuckled, smirking and shaking his head at his daughter. "You are one strange child. That's what makes you mine.

* * *

"Have you noticed Julia's behavior lately?" Eli asked.

"Um, what are you talking about?" Clare asked, feeding LA a 3 AM bottle.

"Well, she's been kind of… clingy," Eli stated.

"Again: What are you talking about?"

"She's always with-in a ten foot distance of me. She doesn't like when I go to work. She wants to go everywhere with me. She does not like me out of her sight!"

"Wow. That's a list, Eli," Clare said. "But your home more often now and she just wants to spend some time with you."

"I understand that, but… it worries me," Eli sighed.

"Eli…" Clare started, but was interrupted by a series of screams, switching between regular screams and 'DAD'.

"Julia!" Eli ran towards his daughter's room. Julia was squirming in her bed, yelling over and over. "Julia! JULIA!" He shook her trying to wake her up.

"AH!" she screamed, her eyes flinging open.

"Julia? Are you okay?" Eli asked, really concerned. "You were screaming in your sleep."

She stared at him for a minute. Her eyes became filled with tears before she threw her arms around his torso and started to cry into his shirt. "Daddy! Promise you'll never leave me!"

"Julia, what's this about?"

"Just promise me. Please?"

"I'm not going anywhere."

She sniffled. "Thanks. That might help."

"Did you have a nightmare? Do you want to tell me about it?"

"You know, if you tell someone your nightmare, you'll never have it again," Clare said, standing at in the doorway.

_"Yeah, right. Been there, tried that," _Julia thought, but said, "I'd rather not, if that's okay with you."

"Sure, sweetie," Clare sighed. "Just try and go back to sleep."

"I'll try. Love you, Mom."

"I think I'm going to stay in here until she falls asleep," Eli whispered to Clare.

She smiled back at him. "You big, lovable softy." They kissed and Clare went back to their bedroom. Eli sat down at Julia's desk.

"What are you doing?" Julia asked.

"Waiting for you to go to sleep," Eli answered.

Julia smiled. "Thank you."

**... ... ...**

"I had the dream again," Julia groaned at lunch the next day at school.

"Really, Julia?" Brookie sighed. "That's the fourth night in a row. Why haven't you told your parents?"

"No!" Julia cried. "They'll just think I'm crazy."

"Julia, you're having dreams that you're living without your dad. I think he might want to know."

"I'm not ready for him to know, Brookie!" She yelled, causing the other end of the table to stare at her. Julia slammed her head on the table. She groaned. "This time I was screaming in my sleep. My parents came in and woke me up. This is really freaking me out."

"I've told you what you need to do," Brookie complained. "Whether you take my advice is up to you." She stood up, grabbed her lunch bag/purse, and followed her grade out to recess. Julia just watched her go, thinking about what her only friend had said. She sighed, deciding that she better follow her grade outside. It was a lot better than being glared at by the incoming fifth grade class.

**... ... ...**

"UGH!" Julia groaned, flopping down on her bed after school. What Brookie said had been running through her head all day. Maybe she should tell him. Nothing worse than those dreams could happen. Each one got worse. Last night's kept replaying in her head. The crashing sounds, the sirens, the screaming: all of it scaring the crap out of her. She felt something warm run down her cheek.

"Julia?" A voice interrupted her thoughts. She rubbed her eyes, trying to play her tears off as tiredness.

"Yes, Daddy?" She asked, sitting up on her bed.

"You're mother and I want to see you downstairs."

"Okay. I'll be there in a minute," She agreed, standing up and stretching. Eli walked away from her door. She peeked outside of the doorway. Noticing that no one was in the hallway, she crept out of her room and down to LA's. He laughed when he saw her come in.

"SHH!" she shushed him. Julia and Little Adam were really close, even though he was only about five months old. She reached her hand through the bars of his crib, grabbing onto his small hand. "Listen, LA, and listen closely. Never turn out like me. Don't do anything I've done or will do. Be better than me. Okay?" She didn't know where that came from, but she knew she had to tell him. Maybe those dreams are punishment for something. Maybe they were just her fears coming through her brain. He stared at her for a while, then smiled at her. She smirked. "Easily amused, aren't we?" She blew him a kiss. "I love you, bro. Have a good nap."

She slowly shut his door before walking downstairs. She noticed her parents in the kitchen, so she decided that that was where they planned their big meeting.

"Julia, what's this?" Clare asked, holding up a piece of paper.

"Well, I believe that that," she pointed towards it, "is a piece of paper."

"This isn't time for sarcasm, Julia," Eli said, calmly. She knew that this was serious. She sat down at the table, waiting for whatever was going to happen.

"You're school mailed us your short story assignment," Clare began.

Her face went flush. "W-Which one?"

"The 'over-coming a hard time' one," Clare answered. She began to read it. _**"As I felt the darkness overcome me, I realized: this may be for the best… for everyone. Racing through my mind was everything that has happened to lead to my decision and I knew that this was what I wanted, what everyone wanted. So I went away… for good."**_ What does this mean, Julia?"

"What do you think it means?"

"Julia, the school thinks that you're suicidal!"

"What?" Julia yelped, pushing her eyebrows together. "What? I am NOT thinking about suicide! I'm a five-year-old girl! This story does not end in death! If they would have read the story carefully, Amelia decided to leave the place where she had caused so much trouble!"

"You do not have to lie to me, Julia!"

"I'M NOT LYING TO YOU!" Julia yelled, tears streaming down her face. She realized that she had shouted. "I hate that you don't trust me, Mom." She paused to collect herself. "I'll re-write it if they want, but I want you to know: I know you guys love me and I would never want to make you upset. I'm sorry." She turned and walked out of the kitchen, heading for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Eli asked, calmly.

"To talk to LA," she answered, holding onto the banister. "It's… It's comforting, you know. Mostly because he can't talk back."

"Okay," he sighed as she ran upstairs.

"Way to help out," Clare spat, throwing the paper down on the table.

"What?" he said defensively.

"You just sat there while I tried to discipline our daughter."

"Hey, I told her no sarcasm."

"I know. She just… worries me."

He sighed again. "Didn't think we had to worry about that so soon, but I believe her, I hope you know."

"So do I," Clare agreed. She flopped down on the kitchen chair. "We just had our first fight with our daughter."

"I know. I think I'm going to go check on her," Eli said, standing up. "Just to make sure she's okay." Clare sighed her agreement and Eli headed up the stairs. Putting many fatherly saying together ('We always love you, not matter how much trouble you get in', 'You'll always be my little girl', etc.), her voice stopped him outside of Little Adam's room.

"I can't believe it, Little A!" Julia complained. "How dare they think that! I wouldn't do that! I still have to teach you how to deal with them." She smirked. Of course, Adam giggled. He thought Eli's and her smirked was hilarious. He got Clare's smile, eyes, hair… well, basically Clare's everything, except for what makes him a boy. That's all Eli.

"You want to know where I got my story idea from?" Julia asked, fixing Adam's onsie. Eli's hearing improved. He needed to know what this was about. "My dreams, the ones that I've told you about, were the inspiration behind it. Amelia was basically me. She felt weird wherever she went, not many things could make her happy, but she didn't have a dad. My worst fear came out there. There were only two differences between us: the 'dad' thing and… she was never happy. I'm sometimes happy. You make me happy, LA. But, like her, I feel that with my… condition that everything would be better if I just left."

_"What condition? Could it be…?"_ She had been a little too attached lately, except when she went to talk to Little Adam. Maybe that's what she was talking about. Eli peeked back in through the crack in the door. Adam reached his hand out to Julia.

"I know you wouldn't be," she smirked. "Okay, you need to get back to sleep." Little Adam whimpered. Julia knew what he wanted. She groaned, "Only for you."

_"What is she going to do?"_ Eli thought.

She reached inside her black, skinny jeans pocket and pulled out her iPod. Taking out the headphones, a song started to blare out. But it wasn't the type of song Julia would sleep to. It was slower.

"I'd give you today but it's not mine yet. I'll ask you to stay with me till then. I think I'm falling for you. I need you. I just want to look in your eyes and see all that you have looking back at me. I think Tonight, I Love You," Julia sang, fixing Little Adam's blanket through the bars. She sang 'Tonight, I Love You' by The Latency until she noticed LA was asleep.

_"She's actually pretty good"_ Eli thought. _"Oh, crap!"_ He ran towards his room when he noticed Julia coming towards the door. He tried to act causal, but his cover was blown when Julia came in and asked, "Okay, how much of that conversation did you hear?"

"Most of it," Eli sighed, trying to smirk to lighten the mood. "Is that what your dreams were about?"

"Pretty much," Julia groaned. She leaned against the bed, waiting for her dad's reply.

"Why are you afraid of not having me?"

"I just am! Okay! Can we not talk about this now?" Julia's face was blushing. She wasn't ready to talk about this.

Eli just nodded. "Okay. So… I heard you singing," Eli changed the subject.

"Oh, dear God…" Julia blushed harder.

"You're actually pretty good."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. And before you give me any 'that's not your type of music' speech, that's LA's favorite song," Julia defended. "I'm a good big sister.

"You sure are." He ruffled her hair as he stood up from his bed.

"I have a feeling Little A is going to be a people person," Julia said at his heels.

"Why?"

"He just seems like it."

"Good reasoning," Eli complimented, the sarcasm overflowing onto the door mat at their feet.

"Thanks, Dad… Where are you going?" Julia asked, her eyes full of worry as Eli slipped on his shoes.

"I left some important things at work. I was going to…"

"Can I come?" she asked, smiling.

"Sure…?" he answered and watched his daughter run upstairs to grab her shoes. He scratched his head, wondering how this day went from yelling about a paper, to watching Julia sing to her little brother, to picking something up with her. "I'm taking a nap when I get back," he mumbled, opening the door for himself and Julia.

* * *

**(A/N: I've decided that I don't have much of a storyline for Julia age 5 and LA age 1, so I'm just going to put it at the end of here. Okay?)**

**... ... ...**

"Julia, this is the third time I've had to pick you up from school this week," Eli said, pulling away from the elementary school. "You're grades are slipping, you're having panic attacks, what's wrong?" _"I think my guess was right, but…"_

Julia sighed. "I'm ready to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Remember when you found out what my dreams were about? Well, I wasn't ready to tell you then, but now I am." She took a deep breath. "Brookie did some research and she told about separation anxiety. She said I showed all the signs of it… but deep down, I already knew that."

"So did I," Eli admitted. "But I kept telling myself I was wrong. Why?"

"I don't know why you were denying it."

"Not that," he sighed. "Why are you afraid?"

"Well, I guess it was before LA was born, when you weren't really here. I'm guessing it was making up for lost time. But…" Her eyes started to water. "I guess I'm afraid it's going to happen again."

They had reached the house, but Eli just shut Morty off. They stayed in the car. "Julia, I'm not going anywhere."

"My heart knows that, but my head refuses to accept it. It keeps telling me different."

"Julia, you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you, but…"

"Can I go to therapy?" Julia interrupted.

"I was about to say that," Eli said. "I didn't think you'd be for it."

"Anything to stop being a bother."

He took her shoulders in his hands, making her face him. "Julia, you are not, nor have you not or will ever be a bother. I love you. I would do anything for you. You're my little girl."

She smiled, though she had some tears going down her cheek. "Thank you, Daddy." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you, too."

He hugged her back. "Okay. You're mother's probably worried about us. Let's go." They got out of Morty, then walked up to the door. Julia immediately ran to her room to start her homework.

"Well, she's acting different," Clare noticed, placing a bottle in the microwave.

"Where do you keep the phonebook?" Eli asked, looking through the kitchen drawers.

"Third drawer to the left," Clare answered, confused. The microwave dinged and she took out the bottle. Shaking it, she asked, "Why?"

"We need to find a therapist."

* * *

**Okay, I want to make something clear: Eli and Clare do not remember anything Julia did when she went to the past. Like she said, they'll remember who she is, her name, and (for some reason, maybe, if someone asked me, a glitch in the time travel process. I think it was to move the story further) her love of Escape The Fate. So, that means that ****Clare and Eli have no idea about Julia separation anxiety until she tells them.**

**And there you have it! Sorry if the 'Separation anxiety' talk wasn't up to your expectations, but I'm going through a little writer's block. But I have SO many ideas for the next chapters! **

**AND a new character (unless you read 'The Kids of The Kids of Degrassi'. Then you know who I'm talking about) is coming up in the next chapter! Yay! I can't wait for your thought on him!**

**So, I have a PSA for you: Reviews make any writer's day! And all it takes is a minute! Take a minute of your time to comment. It can be a long speech or just a simple 'Update'! Make a writers day today! (Like it? I spent a long time on that PSA for some weird reason)**


	7. Julia Age 6, LA Age 2, Intro Brady!

**I'm ****SO**** sorry that it took me forever to update! I wrote the important part, but it was just too short, so I had to add some fillers. Cheesy fillers, might I add. So cheesy, it has singing, which is ****underlined.**** I really have to stop the singing, but it's a necessary in this. It shows how they're bonding!**

**Before you start, I need to answer an important question/suggestion I have gotten a lot of: **_**Will you do a story where Julia is a teenager? **_**The answer: this story is going to go up until Little Adam graduates high school, so I will defiantly get to when Julia is a teenager. Don't worry! I have a juicy plotline for her. Hee hee. **

**And I changed the rating for some of the stuff that they talk about. It's no biggy right now though.**

**And, since I could get in trouble, and that is not good, here's my disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or its characters in any way, shape, or form. I only own the main plot lines and the characters Julia, Little Adam, Brookie, and Brady.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Have a good first day of school!" Clare called from the passenger seat of Morty.

Julia waved back, then turned back to the school. To be honest, she was terrified. This was the first time Julia wasn't in the same class as Brookie, her only friend. Cautiously, she headed in. She tugged her backpack up on her shoulder three times before she arrived at her locker. She was in fourth grade and this school felt that fourth graders all like each other, so they can share lockers. Julia stopped at the one that had 'Julia Goldsworthy' on a butterfly. She noticed there wasn't another butterfly on there._ "Puke-tastic,"_ Julia thought, but she opened her locker. Her locker mate's backpack was already in there. She couldn't help but notice that it was black. _"Well, they may not be an Aber-zombie." _She threw her black bag on the hook after taking out her black binder. She turned away from her locker and saw Brookie on the other side on the hallway. Brookie came running over.

"Don't take crap from anyone," she warned.

"Brookie, you know me. I never do." They hugged. "I've learned that lesson at your birthday party." She remembered the party, where her Escape The Fate shirt she got at the concert was destroyed.

"I'm still sorry about that," Brookie apologized.

"It's okay. You didn't do it. It's was a long time ago. I should have never brought it up." She turned towards her classroom door. "I've got to go."

"Be strong," Brookie nodded. Julia nodded back, then headed into the class.

Just what she expected: blondes, brunettes, and colors galore. She almost puked at the sight. Her teacher, Mrs. Daily, told her to find her desk. It had her name tag on it. Clinging onto her binder, she walked around the desks, looking for her name. She was praying to her idol, Craig Mabbitt, who was on her binder with the rest of Escape The Fate, that she wouldn't have to sit by a bunch of preps.

Finally, she came across her name. She sat down, not even looking at the person whose desk was touching hers. She threw her binder onto the top of her desk. Groaning, she slammed her head down on it.

The boy next to her jumped a little. "Wow. Someone is either upset or tired."

"A little bit of both," Julia answered.

"Escape The Fate," he read. "Awesome band."

Her head snapped up. That was not what she expected to hear. "What?" she asked, turning towards him.

"Escape The Fate is awesome," he said, smiling slightly. She was taken by the small smile. It wasn't like her smirk. The corners of his mouth went up both ways. He has semi-long black hair that came down to about half an inch past his earlobes. His bangs went straight down; they didn't swoop out or part. They almost covered his ice blue eyes. His eyes were the bluest she had ever seen. She looked down at his clothes: a pair of black skinny jeans, black Converse, and his black Papa Roach shirt. He looked, in a word, breath-taking. _"SAY SOMETHING!"_

"Oh, yeah. They're my favorite band. I saw them in concert when I was four," she said. _"WHY DID I SAY THAT?"_ She had to say something else. "I love your shirt. Papa Roach is amazing."

His smile grew. "Yeah, but, in my opinion, they're nowhere near Black Veil Brides."

"_Did he say Black Veil Brides?"_ "Did you say Black Veil Brides?"

"Yeah. Have you heard of them?"

"Duh!" She moved her binder to his desk, showing him the five Black Veil Brides picture in it. "See? And I'm wearing a BVB shirt!" She turned, letting him see her shirt and black, anime school girl skirt.

He looked at her outfit, and then turned back to her binder. "Dude, Escape The Fate, Black Veil Brides, Three Days Grace! You, my friend, have amazing taste!" He extended his hand. "I'm Brady."

"No last name?"

"Lancaster. Brady Lancaster. Satisfied?"

"Yes," she giggled. She took his hand. "Julia."

"Goldsworthy?"

"Yeah. You read that from my name tag, didn't you?"

"Well, that. And I just met my locker partner."

"You're my locker partner? No wonder the butterfly was down."

"Yeah, not my style," he sighed, putting his hands behind his head in satisfaction.

"No offense, dude, but you don't look nine."

"Neither do you!" He pointed out. He chuckled. "I'm not. I skipped two grades. I'm seven."

She smirked. "Really? Well, I skipped three grades and I'm six."

"Got me beat there," he chuckled again.

"_That smirk,"_ he thought.

"_That chuckled," _she thought.

"_I'm going to LOVE this year!"_

* * *

"Julia! Wake up!" Eli called from downstairs. "Hurry up! You don't want to be late for school!"

"Ugh!" She groaned, getting out of bed. "I'm coming!" She ran to her closet and pulled out her Black Veil Brides T-shirt. She slid it on as she grabbed her homework. Stuffing the papers into her bag, she ran to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Throwing her brush back onto the counter, she ran down stairs. She grabbed a banana from countertop and yelled, "Let's go!"

"Um…" he was trying not to laugh. "Do you think you've forgotten something?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I forgot pants, didn't I?" Eli nodded. "UGH!" She ran back up stairs and threw her bedroom door open. She grabbed her gray skinny jeans that came just halfway between her ankle and her knee and her black short skirt, the one she wore when she met Brady. "_Which on would Brady like better?"_ she thought, holding both up. She threw the jeans onto her bed and put on her skirt. She was about to run back downstairs when she remembered her purple bow. She grabbed it from her nightstand and ran back downstairs.

"Are you ready now?" Eli chuckled, putting his coffee cup in the sink.

"Almost. Can you tie my bow?" She held up her hair and handed her dad the bow. After it was tied, she ran to Morty. She loved Morty. She couldn't wait until she was sixteen and Morty was hers. Brady thought it was so cool that she was dropped off in a hearse.

"So, what are you going to do in school today?" her dad asked.

"I don't know. Assignments obviously." She blushed. "I'm going to hang out with Brady at lunch. He always brings two cookies and he always gives one to me."

"_It's too early for this," _Eli thought. "_She's too young."_

Julia and Brady have become really close. He's been over to the Goldsworthy house many times. They mostly just listen to music and do homework in Julia's room, with the door opened as Eli had insisted. They knew each other's deepest secret. He knew about her separation anxiety. She knew that this was his first time in Canada and that he spent the first six years of his life in Florida. They were just about inseparable in school, whether it was in class, at lunch, or recess. Everyone thought it was because they were so similar because they never come to school in colors, they always have some type of band logo on them, and they both skipped grades. Well, everyone but Brookie. She had her doubts that they 'like' liked each other. Brady and Julia never commented on that. Honestly, because neither of them know where a friendship turns towards a relationship. She thought he was cute; he thought she was cute. But… they were scared. Scared to admit that they liked each other and break apart their friendship if it didn't last. For now, they left things unsaid.

Eli parked Morty in front of the school. "Have a good day. Remember, your last therapy session is tonight. Be careful on the snow." They had had about six inches of snow fall that weekend.

"Dad! Okay!" Julia half giggled, half yelled. She got out and said, "Bye. Love you," before slamming the door. Eli pulled away, but not before seeing her daughter slip and fall on her back. He pulled over and almost leaped out of the car. He turned to run back to help her, until he saw a boy in a black jacket helping her up.

"I thought you were from Canada," he joked. "Shouldn't you be used to walking on snow?"

"Oh, har har," Julia sarcastically laughed. She got back to her feet and brushed off her jacket. "Shut up, Brady. I can be a klutz and you know that."

"Yep. That's why you have me." He grabbed her hand and started to walk towards the school. Eli wanted to walk right up to that kid, remove his hand from his baby girl's, and punch him in the face. But Julia would be very upset and he could get arrested. So he just sighed and went back to Morty. "She's growing up. Why couldn't she have stayed three years old forever?"

Back with Brady and Julia, she held his hand, blushing, trying to keep him up. This was his first time walking on snow and he wasn't doing great, especially because there was a lot of ice on the ground.

"Balance much?" she giggled.

"Not on ice," Brady admitted. "But I haven't fallen."

"Way to make fun of your only friend."

"Who said you were my only friend?"

"You did! Yesterday at recess!"

He blushed. "Shut up…" he whispered, not looking at her. She giggled, but stopped when her hand was pulled down. She screamed before she realized that she was on the ground. When she opened her eyes, she had two ice blue orbs looking back at her. She then realized that the ground didn't feel hard. It felt soft, like a jacket. Her eyes popped wider. She was on top of Brady! She couldn't move; her body wouldn't let her.

"Well, this is awkward," Brady pointed out. "Your lips are an inch from mine." That made her think: She could just use one swift motion and they would be kissing. Was she old enough for that? What would her dad say? But she didn't have much time to think about that, because she soon felt Brady's lips on hers. Even if it was only for a nano-second, it felt good. Julia stared back at him. "You might want to get off of me. People are staring."

But Julia was in her own little world. He kissed her. He really kissed her. "What? Oh, yeah." She shifted to his right and off of him. Brady managed to get himself up, then helped her up.

"Sorry about pulling you down with me," he apologized.

She smirked back at him as he opened the door for her. "It was worth it."

**... … … **

"Tell me, now!" Brookie demanded, flopping down on Julia's bed after school. "You wouldn't tell me at school, you wouldn't tell me on the car ride home, and now you won't tell me here? I thought you were my best friend!"

"You are, Brookie!" Julia insisted, walking over to her door. "But this is top secret. No one is to hear about it, especially my parents." She looked out in the hallway, saw that no one was out there and shut her door. "Got it?"

"Duh! Now dish! Is this about that stupid smile Brady had on whenever he looked at you today?"

Eli walked down the hallway. He had to go to LA's room, but when he heard 'Brady', he stopped outside of her door. He knew it was wrong, but he had to hear what was going on.

"Yeah, it is. Okay…" He could practically hear Julia blush. "We were walking towards the school door. I was holding his hand… because he's never walked on ice before!" she added quickly. "So we were almost to the school, and he slipped. He brought me down with him and when I opened my eyes, his were staring back at me. I was on top of him and…"

"And what?" Brookie asked, almost bouncing out of her seat.

_"And what?"_ he thought, ready to strangle the kid.

"He kissed me," she whispered.

"He what?" Brookie exclaimed, the corner of her mouth up to her eyes.

"He what?" he whispered through his teeth.

"He kissed me," Julia said louder. "It was… amazing. He pointed out that our lips where an inch apart and I was thinking that if I just moved down we would be kissing. But then I thought of my dad. What would he say?"

_"He wouldn't say anything, because he would be in the middle of choking the kid!"_

"You know, you're three years younger than me, but yet, you've already had your first kiss," Brookie sighed. "That's not right!"

"Hey, I didn't ask to be kissed!" Julia defended herself, giggling.

That was the last Eli heard of the conversation. He was already on his way to the kitchen. "Clare, we have a problem."

"Where's Adam's blanket?" Clare asked, setting LA in the high chair, waiting for the microwave to finish heating up a sippy cup of milk.

"I'll get it later. We have a major problem."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Julia had her first kiss today."

The microwave dinged, but he couldn't hear it over Clare screaming, "WHAT?"

"I heard her talking to Brookie about it."

"Okay, when did it happen? Who's the kid?" She paused, looking like she was calming down. "Wait! You eavesdropped on our daughter's conversation?"

"Well, I heard Brookie used Brady's name and stupid smile, so I kind of wanted to know."

"So it was Brady?"

"Yeah. Brady kissed Julia." he sighed, slamming his body down on the chair. "She's growing up too fast. She's only six! She shouldn't be kissing."

Clare sighed with him before realizing that the microwave went off. Pulling the sippy cup out, she said, "I know. I know you're upset. So when are you going to talk to her?"

"Me?" Eli chuckled. "Isn't boy-stuff your department?"

"But you're her father," Clare pointed out, handing LA his cup. "And you eavesdropped. She'll wonder how I knew, so that entitles you."

"So if you're not going to talk to her, and I know I'm defiantly not, no one is talking to her?"

"Hopefully Brookie," Clare stated. "When we hear she kissed him again, then we'll talk."

"Fine," he agreed. "And I heard that they did fall, so he may have just been trying to get up?" He wanted to believe himself SO badly.

"Yeah, sure." She wanted to believe him more.

Silence. No one spoke. No sound was made, except for the occasional noise from LA.

Brookie and Julia came running down the stairs. "Bye, Uncle Eli! Bye, Aunt Clare! Mom and Dad are waiting out front!" Brookie threw on her pink snow boots and pink winter jacket. "Have fun at therapy, J!"

"Brookie, it's therapy. What's fun?" Julia giggled. "I'll try. It's my last session." They hugged before Brookie bounded out the door and into her dad's car. KC waved to Julia before driving away. Julia walked into the kitchen wearing her purple snow shoes and black heavy jacket with a purple inside. "Ready to go?"

"In a minute," Eli chuckled, watching Julia waddle towards the door in her heavy winter outerwear. Clare laughed a little, then kissed Eli before he threw on his jacket.

"Today is the second best day ever," he heard Julia whisper to herself at the door.

Eli sighed in his head. _"She should have stayed three."_

* * *

"Hey, Julia!" Brady called from the swing set. "Come over here for a sec!"

Julia turned her head towards Brookie. Her eyes had a pleading look in them. "May I?"

Smiling, Brookie sighed, "Go ahead." Julia squealed, hugged Brookie, and ran towards Brady.

"Hey, Mabbitt," he greeted her, calling her the nickname he gave her for her love of Craig Mabbitt.

"Hey, Mosley," she giggled. She was the only one he told about his crush on Lacey Mosley from Flyleaf.

"Touché," he replied. "So anyway, you know the stupid talent show coming up?"

"Uh, YEAH! We made fun of it all day afterwards." She was smiling, until she noticed he wasn't. Her smile slipped. "Okay, what's going on?"

He started to blush. "I… I want to be in it."

Julia stared at him for a minute, unsure what to say. "A-Are you serious?" He nodded. "Can you sing? I know you can play guitar, but…"

"I sit here and smile dear. I smile because I think of you and I blush. These bleeding hollow dials, this fuss. A fuss is made of miles and travels. Roadways are but stones and gravel. A bleeding heart can conquer every crutch," Brady started singing, interrupted her. His eyes never left hers.

She blushed, then smiled. She joined him. "We booked our flight those years ago. You said you loved me as you left me. Regrets still haunt your sadden head. But I promised you I will see you…" They trailed off.

"Wow. You're good."

Julia blushed harder. "Thanks. You're not bad yourself. So is that what you're singing?"

"Maybe. Unless…" He knew this was a long shot with her, but he had to try. "I could find a partner to sing a duet with."

She burst into laughter. "Well, good luck with that!" she joked. Brady started to blush a little and his hopefully smile fell. "I'm just kidding. I would love to sing with you."

He immediately jumped at her, embracing her in a huge hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Oh, my God, Brady. Get ahold of yourself." She pushed him off of her, laughing. "So what are we singing?"

"Well, I only know how to play one duet song…"

She smirked. "'Broken'?" He nodded, smiling shyly. She sighed happily. "Fine. We'll start practicing tomorrow when you come over, okay?"

"I'll bring Lacey."

"You named it? You named your guitar?"

"Not it!" he demanded. "Her!"

"Whatever," Julia brushed it off. She stood up from her seat. "I've got to go back Brookie. Give her the 'details'."

Brady chuckled. "You are such a girl!"

**… … …**

"DADDY! MOMMY!" Julia called, running through the front door. She threw her backpack down at the door and ran to the kitchen. LA ran into her coming into the kitchen. "Hey, bro." Julia bent down, hugging her little brother. He was two years old and everyone said he was so cute. He has slightly curly auburn hair and these deep blue eyes. He was always smiling and happy. You couldn't even tell the two were related.

She looked into the kitchen, seeing that LA was the only one there. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

"Up!" LA yelled, pointing towards the stairs.

"What are…" She thought about what they could be doing for a minute. She cringed, trying to get the image from her head. "OH! Oh, that is **NOT** right!" She rubbed her temples, hoping that it would get the image of her parents doing 'it' out of her head. Picking him up the best she could, they went into the living room and turned on the TV ."Wait! They just left you down here?"

LA shook his head and toddled off the couch and over to his play pen.

Julia carefully inspected it, noticing that it was secure without any holes for him to crawl through. "You mean you climbed over the gate?" LA gave her a big smile. She shook her head as she picked up her little brother. "I guess it's you and me for… a while?" she guessed. LA chuckled. "Oh, you think this situation's funny?" LA chuckled louder.

Julia managed to laugh a little at her brother as she set him on his little blue bear fluffy chair on front of the TV. She turned on his favorite show, 'Yo Gabba Gabba' (he's two. He finds it enjoying), and started on her homework. Two minutes later (second grade homework? No problem for Julia, girl genius!), she had finished and was watching the show with him. _"Finally found a situation where stabbing your eyes out sounds pretty good,"_ Julia thought as she collapsed on her back, groaning. She couldn't stand another minute of this toddler pointlessness, so she went to the kitchen. Noticing that nothing was set for dinner, she decided that she would make something. "How hard can it be?"

She decided to start with the easiest thing: LA's milk and applesauce. He always had that and some of whatever Clare was having. After pouring the milk and putting it in the microwave, she went over to LA, who was about to start 'Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!', and brought him into the kitchen. She placed him in his high chair as the microwave dinged. She pulled it out and placed the cup and the bowl of applesauce on the tray. "Eat," she demanded, placing the spoon in LA's hand. Obviously, he took to it right away.

"Okay," She turned back to the kitchen, "I'm six years old, don't like heat, and can't use the stove. What do I make for dinner?" Well, that ruled out a lot of things. Julia grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the freezer. "Hmm," she sighed, peering into it. "Ah-ha!" She pulled out two microwaveable dinners. "Success!" she screamed, jumping off the chair. LA was laughing as she put one of the dinners in the microwave. "Now on to me." She moved the chair back so she could get to the cabinet. After looking over almost everything her eyes caught something that sounded pretty good. "Apple Jacks? Haven't had those in a while." She pulled in out, placed in it on counter, and went over to the microwave as it dinged. She placed the next dinner in and set the first one on the table. After pouring the milk into her bowl of cereal, she set her bowl on the table and took out the second microwave dinner. She placed it on the table and continued to eat her cereal.

As she finished drinking her milk on her third bowl and LA's finished his second sippy cup, Clare came downstairs, Eli in trail. "Julia, what's this?" Clare asked, noticing the food on the table.

"Dinner," Julia answered, smirking. "And I feed LA as well, so you may have your romantic dinner, IF you promise me something."

Eli and Clare eyed each other, hoping that they didn't have to explain what they were doing, then went back to Julia. "And that would be…?"

"Well… Brady wanted to enter the school talent show and asked me to…" Her face was redder than a tomato. She didn't like to talk much about Brady to her parents after their kiss, not that she didn't know that her parents knew, "do a duet with him…"

They processed what she said. "And what do we have to promise?" Clare asked.

"That you'll come?" Julia whispered hopefully.

Eli sighed, relieved. "Of course, Jules! When is it?"

She jumped up and down before hugging her parents' legs. "Thank you! Its next Friday! Oh, Brady and I are practicing tomorrow! He's bringing his guitar."

"Sounds good, Honey," Clare said, sitting down at the table. "Microwave dinner?"

"I'm six," Julia reminded them. "Sue me."

**… … …**

Eli was pacing in front of the steps. He was making sure that he heard Brady's guitar sound. The sound meant that they were practicing and not doing… anything else.

"Eli, quit pacing!" Clare demanded. "They're just practicing. It's not like their having sex."

"What?" he whispered, the color rushing from his face. "Y-Y-You think that they…"

"Oh, my God, ELI!" Clare shouted with a mortified look on her face. "She's six! He's seven! I'm pretty sure they don't know what sex is!"

"Pretty sure? That's not defiantly!"

Having had enough, she stood up off the couch and slapped him across the face.

"OW! What was that for?"

She looked him dead in the eyes. "I'm going to use a phrase that not many people use now: you need the world's biggest freaking chill pill!"

"I'm sorry! It's just…"

Clare sighed, sitting him down on the couch. "I know. You've had that protective side for anyone you cared about and she is your daughter, your own flesh and blood, and you just want to protect her. I get it."

He exhaled the breath he had been holding in for a while. "I guess you're right. But also I think I just don't like the fact that there is a dude in her room!"

"Eli, he's just a friend…"

"Who kissed her!" he reminded.

"Okay, he kissed her! Oh, big whoop! Get over it!"

"I can't get over it, Clare!" he said through his teeth. He let out a very loud scream as he slammed his head against the back of the couch.

"AH!" Julia screamed from her bedroom.

Eli jumped up and ran to the steps to meet Julia running down, Brady close in trail. "What's wrong?"

"I got it! I finally got it!" Julia squealed, clinging onto Brady.

"Got what?" Clare asked, seeing that Eli was afraid to ask.

"I can finally sing the song while hearing the guitar and not sing the notes the guitar is playing!" She jumped up and down, gripping onto Brady's shoulder. Eli sighed a sigh of relief, even though he knew that she was only six and that probably never crossed her mind. "Can we try our performance on you guys? You know, to get us prepared for the show…"

"Yeah, that's the reason why…" Brady smirked, nudging her.

She scoffed, shoving him slightly. "Shut up! Now are we going to do this or what?"

"Whatever the crazy, insane person want!" Brady smirked again. Julia smiled and glared at him, leading him to the living room.

"He's seems… flirty…" Eli growled.

"Eli, just trying and make it through this performance without killing him."

"No promises," he groaned sitting down on the couch. "Okay. Whenever you're ready."

"1… 2… 3… 4," Brady counted, keeping the beat, before he started to play. The guitar started out slowly and harmonious before he started out singing. "I wanted you to know that I love the way you laugh. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away." His eyes never left Julia as he sang.

_"Well, this brings back memories,"_ Clare thought, smiling.

_"Punk better take his eyes off my daughter,"_ Eli thought, trying not to glare at Brady.

"The worst is over now and we can breathe again. I wanna hold you high. You steal my pain away," Julia sang, keeping her eyes on Brady. He turned his attention back to his guitar, but Julia knew he had been looking at her. She was blushing.

"Because I'm broken when I'm open and I don't feel like I am strong enough. 'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome and I don't feel right when you're gone away." They both sang.

"You've gone away," Brady sang, looking at Julia.

"You don't feel me here anymore," Julia sang, looking out to the 'crowd' instead of Brady, but she was blushing, because she knew Brady was looking at her.

Clare started to clap, then elbowed Eli, pulling him from his glare trance. "That was pretty good."

"Thanks, but someone," Julia stabbed her finger in Brady's direction, "was off pitch."

"Me?" Brady put his hands on his chest, pretending to be hurt. "I feel offended."

"You should," Julia smirked. She took his hand and led him to the steps. "Come on. You need practice.

"I wasn't the only one," Brady mumbled.

"What?" Julia exclaimed.

Clare and Eli laughed as Julia pulled Brady upstairs by his ear. "Oh, they fight like a married couple."

"They're not married… yet," Eli sighed, smirking.

"Finally! The Eli I know is back!"

… … …

"I'm nervous," Julia squeaked, smoothing down the black and purple striped dress Clare made her wear.

"You'll be fine. I'm right here," Brady assured her, taking her hand and making her look at him.

She blushed. "Fine. Hold on. Your tie's crooked." She took his red tie and straightened it over his black dress shirt. The tie was the only color of the rainbow on him. "Perfect."

"I know I am. Quit flattering me."

She smack upside the head as their names were called. She exhaled loudly, causing Brady to grab her hand. "I hate you," she managed to say, before they had to go on stage.

"Love you, too, buddy," Brady smirked.

… … …

"Oh, the adrenaline!" Julia shrieked, coming off stage. "That was awesome!" She jumped in Brady arms. "Thank you for making me do that!"

"Anytime," Brady chuckled, hugging her.

"Um, Brady, you can let go of me now," Julia said, letting Brady go.

"What? Oh!" He released her and a huge blush formed on his cheeks. "Sorry."

"Oh, my God. I made the infamous Brady Lancaster blush!"

"Gotta be special to do that." He put his arm around her shoulders. She blushed. "I love that I can make you blush." She scoffed and pushed his arm off of her.

She smirked back at him. "I know I'm special. That's why you love me."

"That I do."

* * *

**Okay, you may hate me for this, but I have like NO ideas for Julia up until she's twelve. Unless I can get some ideas by Sunday, I think this next chapter is just going to be Little Adam's life up until he's eight. I know a lot of people like him and I have a big plot line for him, so I thought I could take the next chapter to build up to it. Cool? **

**So you got to meet the famous Brady! Did you like him? I know he sound a lot like Eli, but every girl looks for a boy that has a least one thing like her dad. In Julia's case, a LOT like her dad. Tell me how you felt about him in the review. **

**So epic failure? Tell me! I need to know your opinion for the next chapter! It's very important! And if you have any questions feel free to ask in the review. I WILL answer all of them. Thanks For Reading!**


	8. Julia Age 8 LA Age 4

**Here's Chapter 7! Up sooner than I expected! Instead of just doing five years in one like I planned, I got a burst of inspiration in Algrebra to do this and the next chapter! Yeah! **

**So, for my Brady fans, there is no Brady in this Chapter. Sorry! But a ton of EClare!**

**Now it's not the longest chapter, but I've tried. And at least you have a chapter to read! Yay! for that!**

**And now, some credit to:**

**Lyss, Swanstream, Munroloverx1, monkeywriter12, MdmeDegrassi21,**

**for giving me the ideas for the bands/singers.**

**And i would like to thank Giiiirrrllll for giving me the idea for Julia and Brady's couple name. I added an 'r' to it, but I'm giving her credit. So Thank her for 'Brulia".**

**Enought of me talking, so here you go: Chapter 7!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Mommy! Mommy!" LA called out, running down the stairs.

"Yes?" Clare asked, stirring something in a pot on the stove.

"Mommy, can I ask you something, something important?"

"What is it, Adam?"

"Can I play baseball?"

Clare dropped the stirrer in the pot. "What?"

"I want to play baseball… or soccer... football, maybe," LA listed.

Clare crouched down to LA's height. She took him by the shoulders. "Adam, is this something you really want to do?"

"Yes, Mommy!" Little A exclaimed. "I've been watching ESPN and I think I can do it!"

Clare smiled from ear to ear and embraced him in a hug. "That's amazing!" She looked into his eyes. "When do you want to start? And what do you want to do?"

"Can I do all three?" he asked, hopeful.

"Maybe, Honey. I'll find out." She hugged him again. "This is awesome! I've always wanted an athlete in the family!"

"You mean, Dad didn't…"

"I don't know. He never brought it up. But he doesn't really like jocks, so… don't mention this to your dad. Okay?"

"Okay, Mom!

**… … …**

"Eli, just let him!" Clare begged Eli a couple weeks after LA had asked her about playing sports.

"I'm sorry Clare but I've had the worst years of my life with jock-y people!" Eli protested, putting on a maroon tie for work. "I'm not letting my son become the thing I feared most when I was 9!"

"You were nine! Let it go!" Clare complained. "You're being selfish Eli! Your son wants to try this, so let him! You don't have a choice!"

"And why not?"

"Because his first baseball practice was Tuesday, he has football tonight and a soccer match on Saturday," she smirked, seeing her plan fall together.

"And you're just telling me this now?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't let him if he wasn't already signed up," she explained, crossing her arms in satisfaction.

"Fine," he groaned. "He can play. Any more sports I should be concerned about? "

"Oh yeah! He's starting hockey this winter!"

"You're really killing me, Clare." He glared at her, smirking to make her know that he wasn't as mad as his glare was letting on it be.

"I've always wanted an athlete in the family," Clare sighed, hugging Eli. "And I knew I wasn't going to get that with Julia."

"Nope," he laughed, releasing her. "She's defiantly a daddy's girl."

"No doubt about that. I think you've corrupted her mind."

"Hey! That's not nice!" Eli smirked, grabbing Morty's keys before kissing Clare and heading to work.

* * *

"Hey," Eli greeted, coming into the kitchen with his hands behind his back. "Where is one place you've always wanted to go with me?"

"To the grocery store so you can help tame your kids?" Clare joked, putting the dishes back in the cabinet.

"So when they're... almost perfect angels, they're yours. But when they're little devils, they belong to me?"

"That's the plan," Clare smirked. "Now what were you saying?"

He pulled his hand from behind him, revealing two tickets. "You've always wanted to go to California, right?"

"Eli shut up! Are these..."

"Tickets to California? No." She playfully slapped him. "No, they're tickets to a concert in California."

"EEE!" she squealed hugging him. "Wait!" She looked back at his face. "Concert? Let me guess: Blessthefall? Bring Me The Horizon? Buckcherry?"

"All bands starting with b?" he pointed out.

"Shut up and answer my question: are we going to California to see? Avenged Sevenfold? Seether?

"Well, actually they're for Daughtry, but you seem to want to see a rock band..."

"Oh my god! You got us tickets to Daughtry? The rock god loving Elijah Goldsworthy got tickets to pop-rock Daughtry?" She faked surprise.

"Well you seem to like them, so I thought it was a nice surprise."

She hugs him again and pulls him in for a kiss. "I love you! I love you! Wait! Who's going to watch Julia and Little A?"

"Adam and Fiona offered to. Adam actually suggested this for our 8th anniversary."

She whispered, "Thank you, Adam," before going back to kissing Eli.

**… … …**

Clare and Eli were sitting in the airport terminal waiting for their plane to board. "You have LA's sports schedule. Make sure he gets there, okay?" Clare paused. "Love you too, Julia! Bye!" She shuts off her phone and turns to Eli. "Okay everything seems to be in order. When do we board?"

"Now! I've been trying to get you off the phone!" Eli pulled her up from the chair. "Do you not want to see Daughtry?"

She whispered, "I want to see Daughtry..."

"Well come on!" he joked, taking her hand and dragged her through tunnel onto the airplane.

**… … … ****  
**

"Come on! Daughtry goes on at 6! It's 5:15! Let's move!" Eli called, smoothing out his black vest over the white dress shirt he was wearing that fell over his black skinny jeans.

"Well do you want me to go without a shirt?" Clare asked, annoyed, but smiling as she threw on her off the one shoulder purple crop top with a black tank underneath and blue, knee-length skinny jeans.

"Well..."

"Pervert," Clare smirked, smacking him lightly.

"Just kidding. Now we can go?"

**… … …**

Eli laughed as Clare swayed back and forth sing 'Home' along with Chris Daughtry. Surprisingly, Eli was having a good time. For some reason, he didn't think he would.

"Having fun?" he chuckled.

"No! I'm bored!" she answered, giving him the 'you seriously just asked me that' look. "Of course, Moron!"

"Well, no need to be harsh," Eli faked scoffed.

"Eli, shut up!"

**… … …**

"That was amazing!" Clare exclaimed, walking back into the hotel room.

"Glad you like it. I thought it was a good idea."

"Well you thought right! I love you!" They kissed before Clare started to change into a yellow flower-printed tank top and purple sleep shorts.

"Love you too," he replied, pulling on a dark gray shirt. "When Adam told me to go through your iPod, I will admit I didn't want to, but he tricked me..."

"Wait! You went through my iPod?"

"For you!" he defended himself. She half smiled, half glared at her husband. "Anyway, I saw a lot of bands on there like Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, We The Kings, Onerepublic, The Ready Set, All-American Rejects, Paramore, and a LOT more stuff like that, that I wouldn't even think about..."

"But you obviously did!"

He smirked. "Shut up. And you do have some bands that I really considered..."

"Like...?" She asked, lying down on the bed.

"Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, and Escape The Fate," he smirked harder, waiting for her reaction.

"You and your daughter have rubbed off on me!" she giggled and as Eli laid next to her.

"Yes we have. In the worst way!" he chuckled. Clare frowned, but not meaning it. "Sorry. I really considered Panic! At The Disco, because I don't think you would like to go to an Escape the Fate concert and I've already been to one, but Adam convinced me to take you to Daughtry..."

"And because Daughtry was the only one of my bands playing near… LA?" she asked, then started to cry.

"And that," he answered, then noticed that she was crying. "What's wrong?"

"I MISS MY BABY BOY!"

He threw his arms around her, trying to comfort her. "I'm sure LA is fine. Same with Julia."

…**meanwhile…**

"Julia! Julia, get out of the shower!" Adam yelled over the water falling into the bathroom.

"Adam!" Fiona screamed, running after a kid in a football helmet.

"What?"

"Not you!"

"Sorry!" Adam apologized, flopping down onto the couch. The water went off.

"LA, take your football helmet off!" Fiona plead, finally catching LA.

"This is going to be a long week," Adam groaned as Fiona flopped down next to him with LA on her lap.

"That's not how you tell him to do something," Julia explained, leaning against the side on the bottom of the steps wrapped in a towel. Her hair was dripping water onto the towel.

"Well, what do we do?" Adam asked, sighing

"Observe," Julia commanded. She took LA off of Fiona's lap, having him stand up, and she towered over him. "Take off the helmet before I shove it into your bellybutton!"

His eyes widen, obviously scared, and rushed to take off helmet.

"Julia, that's not nice."

"But did it work?"

They stared at her, realizing that she was right.

"I'll take that as a yes. Come on, LA." She pushed LA towards the stairs. "Say goodnight, LA."

"Goodnight, LA!" he screamed, waving to Adam and Fiona.

Julia groaned, "You're hopeless kid," before following him upstairs.

They sat on the couch for a moment, taking in the fact that an eight-year-old just taught them how to handle a kid. "What just happened?"

"I... I don't really know..." Adam admitted.

…**Back in California…**

"You're probably right," Clare sighed, happily.

"When am I not?" Eli smirked, cockiness surrounding his voice, before Clare fell asleep with him close behind.

* * *

**So? Epic fail? It was kind of a filler, but it also was a way to include more EClare. Did you like the idea? I already had Daughtry planned out before I asked, but still, thank you.**

**And I don't own any part of Degrassi or any bands/singers mentioned. (There's my disclaimer, peoples!)**

**Thanks for Reading and Review Please! Yeah, no fancy 'review' thing. Sorry! **


	9. The Age of Fadam and Brulia!

**Hey, my amazing readers! … What's up? I don't really have a big intro, except for one announcement.**

**Since I don't know what date Valentine's Day falls on in 12 years, I'm just going to say it's a Saturday. Okay?**

**Two important moments happen in this chapter, one that starts the tidal wave of DRAMA!**

**So Enjoy!**

* * *

"This is so stupid!" Clare complained, leaning her head onto Eli's chest on the couch.

"We have to learn more about hockey, seeing that you signed our son up for it two years ago with NO clue about anything! We are bad Canadians."

"Well, I don't like sports! The only reason I went to Degrassi games was…" she trailed off, not wanting to explain.

"KC?" Eli finished. "I know. Alli told me."

"Stupid Alli," Clare muttered. "Speaking of Alli, I haven't seen or heard from her since LA's first birthday."

"I know. What's up with that?"

"I think I'll call her." She sat up.

"You do that," he smirked, holding himself up with his hands. She smirked back at him and as she was reaching for the phone, a knock came from the door.

"Hey, Clare, someone's at the door," Eli said.

"I would be lost without you," she joked, smacking his up-side the head as she walked towards the door.

"That's why I told you," he smirked, rubbing his head.

She glared at him, before opening the door.

"Clare, Eli, we have news!" Fiona exclaimed, bursting into the house.

"Where're Julia and LA? They need to be here!" Adam rushed, following Fiona.

"Well, coming in," Clare muttered, shutting the door.

"What's going on?" Julia asked, holding her hand over the bottom of the phone as LA followed her down.

"We have some amazing news," Fiona giggled, holding Adam's hand.

"Hold on," Julia said, then put the phone back to her mouth. "Let me call you back, Brady."

"Okay, so what's this news?" Clare asked, sitting next to Eli as Julia leaned against the back of the couch and LA next to Clare.

Fiona held out her hand to Clare, pointing to her ring finger. "We're getting married!"

"Finally!" Clare squealed, hugging Fiona. Eli and Adam knuckle-touched.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Fiona asked, looking at Clare again.

"Oh, nothing!" Clare hugged her again, blushing that she actually said that out loud.

"Congrats, guys," Julia said.

"When's the wedding?" LA asked.

"Sometime in February," Adam answered.

"We're thinking about Valentine's Day," Fiona contributed. "And we have some new for you guys." She pointed towards Julia and LA.

"Oh, goody," Julia said, sarcastic.

"No, this is good," Adam promised. "You guys are going to be the flower girl and ring bearer."

"Aren't we a little old for that?" Julia asked, trying to talk her way out of it.

"You're the youngest kids we know," Fiona explained. "Please just do this."

"Sure, Aunt Fi, Uncle Adam. I'll do it!" LA offered.

"Thank you." All heads turned to Julia. "Well?"

"I'll have to see the dress…" Julia then smiled, "but I guess I can."

Fiona rushed behind the couch and gave Julia a HUGE hug. "Thank You! Thank You!"

"Suffocation…" Julia tried to say. "No breathing." Her voice got high with every syllable.

"Fiona, let her go!" Eli chuckled.

"Oh!" She realized that she was crushing her. "Sorry."

Julia stood there panting for a coupe seconds. "It's… okay… I'm going to need to sit down."

* * *

"Julia, come out!" Clare begged, knocking on Julia's door.

"But Mom!" Julia squeaked.

"Julia Carolyn Goldsworthy, you get out here now!"

She heard a little whimper, but then the knob slowly turn and the door opened.

"Don't make fun," Julia begged, as she stepped out in her flower girl dress. It was purple with thick straps that came to her knees. The belt was the same shade of purple and so was the flower on it. Her long chocolate brown hair was tied high on her head with a purple ribbon.

"Aw, Julia, you look so cute!" Clare cooed.

"I feel… not myself…"

"Fiona thought that would happen, so she said if you want to wear black, you can have this," she pulled out a thick black ribbon, "and this." She took out a black flower. "We can switch the purple one with this."

"Remind me to thank her," Julia smiled, taking the ribbon and switching the purple on with it.

"Hey, KC," They heard Eli say. "Brookie, Brady, Julia's upstairs."

"Oh, crap!" Julia whispered. "I forgot we had to work on our project today." The sound of two sets of steps was getting closer. "Hide me!" She ran into the bathroom as Brookie and Brady reached the top.

"Hi, Aunt Clare," Brookie greeted.

"Where's Julia?" Brady asked.

"She's…" Where could she say she was? "Um… I don't know. She's around here." She wasn't the best lair, because they both gave her a strange look. "You can just wait in her room."

"O…kay?" they said, heading for her room.

Once they couldn't see her, Clare slipped a pair of black skinny jean and a random band shirt into the bathroom from the laundry bin.

"Thank you," Julia whispered from the bathroom.

"No problem," Clare smiled before taking the bin into her room.

"Hey, I'm going to bathroom," Brady said. "Be right back."

"Don't drown," Brookie warned as Brady walked out of the room.

He got to the bathroom door, forgetting to knock, opened the door. His eyes popped out of his head when he saw Julia with the purple dress, black flower and she had her hair down with gentle waves in the pieces that were in the front and the ones in the back.

"BRADY!" Julia shrieked! "GET OUT!"

"But you look good," Brady drooled.

"OUT!" She yelled, smacking him multiple times, before he was outside and she could shut the door. Finally able to catch her breath, she slid down the door. The realization that her dress could have been off finally hit her. "I'm going to kill that pervert," she muttered, then went back to changing.

"Brady, why are you smiling like a creepy old dude?" Brookie asked after Brady slowly walked into the room.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Julia walked in, in her skinny jeans and band shirt, smacked him upside the head, and said, "Enjoyed the show?"

"What show?" Brady asked sarcastically.

Brookie looked from a ticked off Julia to a smirking Brady. "Okay, what's going on between you two?"

"Moron here," she pointed to Brady, "walked in on me changing."

"In my defense," he started, putting his hand to his chest, "you still had the… hot… dress on! You just had your hair down." He whispered 'hot'.

"Still it's the… what did you say?"

"You just had your hair down?" he repeated.

"Before that."

"In my defense?"

"After that!"

"You still had the dress on?"

"No, no, no!" she giggled, knowing there was more to it. "You said something before dress."

"No, I didn't," he spat out quickly.

"Yeah, you did," she insisted.

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!

"OH, MY GOD!" Brookie shouted, dropping her history book onto the table to get their attention. "He called your dress hot, okay!" She sighed, flopping back down onto Julia's bed. Brady and Julia had shut up for a minute. "Finally! Silence!"

Julia smirked, turning from Brookie to a blushing Brady. "You think my dress is hot?"

"Oh, no," he admitted. Julia's smirked fell. "I think you looked hot in the dress."

Her blushing shade turned from pink to tomato red. Still smirking, she scoffed, "Look at you, being all machismo. Shut up."

"Well, sorry for the compliment."

"What?" Brookie interjected. "For all of those in this room who are not geniuses, what does machismo mean?"

"Exaggerated masculinity," Brady and Julia answered at the same time.

"You two are meant for each other," Brookie sighed under her breath.

But Julia heard. She turned to glare at her, but instead of saying anything that may jeopardize one of the two friendships she has, she bit her tongue, literally. It felt good; it really did. And, honestly, it wasn't the first time. She could taste the blood going down her throat. She absolutely hated when Brookie brought up "Brulia" as she liked to put it. "Okay, you guys are here to do the project, so let's do the project."

Before Julia could sit down, Brady grabbed her chin in his hand. "Open."

"Open wha…" Before she could ask, Brady was holding her mouth open.

"Is that… blood on your teeth?" Brady asked, moving his head around to see her mouth at all the angles.

"I bit my tongue," Julia said, after swapping Brady's hand away. "It's no big deal."

"Julia, let me see your tongue," Brookie demanded, standing up from the bed.

"Why?"

"Give me your tongue!"

Julia immediately stuck out her tongue, revealing deep cracks and a lot of blood.

"Oh, my God…" Brady whispered, not able to take his eyes away.

Brookie shut Julia's mouth, then said, in a serious tone, "You're biting again?"

"Only when my mad… or upset…" Julia confessed.

Brookie groaned, shutting her eyes, thinking her words over. "Julia, we've talked about this. This is a form of cutting."

"I said I'm sorry!" Julia apologized. "I haven't bit myself in while, like a two months."

"Here." Brady handed her a tissue, noticing a drop of blood fall from her lip. Julia nodded her thanks. "Why biting?"

"Because cutting can be seen easier," Julia said, in a 'DUH!' voice.

_"There's the sarcasm I love,"_ he thought, a smiling appearing on his face.

"Why are you smiling?" Julia asked.

"Because Julia's back."

Brookie looked from Julia, to Brady, then back to Julia. "What? Care to explain?"

"I've always been here." She dabbed her bleeding tongue.

"No, that was a different person. That sarcasm: that was the Julia I fell in love with."

**… … …**

"So guess who's up for a year book category?" Brookie asked in a sing-song voice as she sat down at the lunch table.

"Let me guess: you and Calder for best couple?" Julia asked. Calder was Brookie's boyfriend and she thought they were destiny, only because both of their names mean 'stream'.

"Well, that," she smiled, loving the flattery. "But you guys are up for biggest flirts."

"What?" Brady asked, looking disgusted. "I don't flirt. Most of the girls here are stupid, airhead, sluts."

"The guys aren't any better," Julia pointed out. "I barely like talking to Calder."

"Someone say my name?" A blonde boy asked, sitting next to Brookie. At first look, you would have thought that they were twins: both had blue eyes, same color blonde hair, but truth was that the blue-haired, blue-eyed boy was Calder Addwell, Brookie 'amazing' boyfriend. But KC and Jenna don't know and Brookie would like to keep it that way.

Julia ignored him as he put his arms around Brookie. "How are we the biggest flirts?"

"You guys flirt with each other all the time," Calder pointed out, his mouth full of cafeteria French fries.

"No, we don't!" They both denied.

"Sure…" Calder and Brookie smiled and rolled their eyes.

"Ugh, you suck…" Julia groaned.

"And blow," he added.

Calder snickered, but tried not to.

"Oh, grow up!" They yelled. Brookie slapped him upside the head and whispered, "Pervert."

* * *

"Fiona, Valentine's Day is coming up fast. We need to finish these details," Clare insisted, as she watched Fiona pace back and forth in the kitchen.

"I know, I know," Fiona sighed. "We have a month left, but I'm freaking out."

"Fiona," Clare got up from the table and stopped her pacing. "Fiona, we only have a couple more details and BAM: we're done. So, if you could calm down for five freaking minutes, we'll be done until the actual wedding."

She sighed, then hugged Clare. "Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Go crazy?"

"Most likely," Adam answered, walking through front door Eli and Julia following them.

"Hey, baby," Fiona greeted, taking Adam and kissing him for what seemed like forever.

Julia was frankly creeped out. She bit down on her tongue, trying to take her mind off of the really awkward display of affection. _"That was a different person."_ She heard Brady in her head and removed her teeth, but she could taste blood. _"Crap!"_ "Thank you, guys, for not doing that."

"Oh, we do that," Eli smirked, looking over at Clare, "just not around you."

"Gross…" Julia sighed, swallowing more blood. "Um… I'll be right back." She thought she accidentally had some blood on her lip, so she smacked her hands to her mouth before running upstairs.

"Well, that was weird," Clare pointed out.

"What: Fiona and Adam or Julia?"

"Both," she answered, then pulled Fiona away from Adam. "Enough with the kissy-kissy. We have flowers that need to be picked out, programs to be made, and a wedding announcement for the newspaper to be written. So SHOO!" Clare shoved Adam and Eli out of the kitchen.

"What the…" Adam whispered, following Eli into the living room.

"She throws herself into her work. Almost literally, sometimes."

* * *

"I wonder if he's even thought about us," Julia sighed, lying on the floor of Brookie's room in her skull pajama pants and plain black t-shirt.

"Knowing him, he probably has," Brookie giggled, still smelling the rose Calder gave her. He was giving her a rose every day that week, considering Valentine's Day was in two days.

"Okay, seriously, enough with the rose!" Julia demanded, taking it from Brookie's hand and throwing it on the pile of the other four.

"Hey! Someone's seems cranky."

"I'm not cranky!" Julia insisted. "I'm just…"

"In love?" Brookie smiled.

"I guess."

"You guess?"

"Fine! I know! I am MADLY in love with Brady Nolan Lancaster!" She paused to take a breath. "But he's not in love with me.

Brookie popped a baby carrot into her mouth. "How do you know?"

"Because… It's Brady…"

"Julia, when will you get his hints?" Brookie asked, grabbing for another carrot. "He's dropped like a million of them!"

"Enough with carrots!" she yelled, swapping the carrot from her hand. "You're such a cheerleader!"

"I am a cheerleader!"

"I know. Back on topic." Taking a minute to remember what they were taking about, she looked into Brookie's eyes, looking hurt. "Seriously? And I missed them all?"

"Yeah," she answered. "He's even said that he loves you."

"When?"

"When we came over to work on the history project and he found out about you biting your tongue, once you turned sarcastic, he said that that was the Julia he fell in love with!" She relaxed against the wall, hands behind her head in triumph. "He's drooling over you."

She groaned, flopping down onto her pillow. "What am I going to do?"

"Well, Valentine's Day is Saturday," Brookie reminded, "and it's also Uncle Adam and Aunt Fi's wedding, so you won't see him then. But Calder is taking me to the school's Valentine's Day dance. Maybe you can get Brady to come along."

"Brady hates dances, though."

"But he loves you. So he'll go if you want to," Brookie figured.

Julia sighed, then was amazed that Brookie (who wasn't the brightest blub in the light show) could be that smart on relationships. "You sure?"

She smiled, then turned off the TV. "Positive," she said, before drifting off to sleep.

**… … …**

"Ugh, look at that," Brady groaned, pointing out the Valentine's Day dance poster. "It's so stupid. That's why we don't go, right?"

"Well, actually," Julia blushed, "I was thinking about going…"

"Why?"

"I don't know. I kind of sounds fun," Julia smiled, looking up at Brady, who was taller than her by at least four inches.

"Well, then , I'll meet you there," Brady smirked, before walking into Algebra 1.

Julia smiled, then walked into her history class as the bell rang. Brookie threw a ball of paper at her went the teacher back was to the class. She gave her a questioning look and two thumbs up. Julia smiled bigger, giving her two thumbs up back. Brookie tried to conceal a squeal as she turned back to the board. _"Tonight will be interesting."_

**… … …**

Julia leaned against the gym wall, watching Brookie and Calder fast dance to a cheesy pop song. She pulled out her iPod, turned on "Gorgeous Nightmare" by Escape The Fate, put her head against the wall, and waited, and waited, and waited for Brady. He was supposed to be here. Maybe he wasn't going to come. Maybe he didn't like her. She bit her tongue, trying to getting rid of the pain. Someone pulled out her ear buds as she drank the blood. She opened her eyes, looked at Brady who was looking at her iPod.

"Yes, you are," Brady said.

"I'm what?" Julia asked, confused.

"A Gorgeous Nightmare," Brady smirked.

Julia smirked back, playfully slapped his arm. "I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted."

Brady sigh-chuckled, then placed one ear bud into Julia's ear and the other in his. "This is much better than the crap they're playing." He smiled at her. "Smart move, bring your iPod."

"I know," Julia blushed.

"So…" Brady blushed, trying not to sound nervous, but epically failing. "Do you… want to dance?"

Julia started to laugh. "To this crap?" She motioned to the DJ.

"Um… no, not at all. I meant… forget it. Sorry." He blushed, looking down at his feet.

Julia took his hand as he heard "Harder Than You Know" by Escape The Fate playing in his ear. "I'd love to dance with you, Brady." Making sure no teachers were around or looking at them, she wrapped her arms around Brady's neck. She waited a couple seconds for Brady to move, so when he didn't, she helped. Taking his hand, she said, "You put your hands on my hips," as she did that. He snapped out of his 'Oh, My God, did she say yes?' phase and did what she said. Once his hands were on her hips, she put her arms back around his neck. They started to sway back and forth to the music.

"Isn't this song kind of a depressing, 'she dumped you while you're crazy about her' song?" Brady asked.

"Well, we've never been ones for mushy love songs," Julia smirked.

"Good point," Brady whispered, smiling back at her, before she rested her head on his shoulder. "Julia?" he said after a couple of minutes into the five minute song.

"Yeah?" she whispered, looking up at him.

He removed his hands, reached into the back pocket of his black skinny jeans, and pull out a black rose. "For you."

Taking it, she looked at everything on it, from the black pedals to the plastic thorns. She smiled. "Are you turning romantic on me?"

"Depends. Do you like romantic Brady?"

"No," she admitted, watching his hopeful face fall. "I **love **romantic Brady."

He smiled again. "So does this mean…"

She smirked, then giggled, "Come here, Mr. Lancaster." She pulled his down to kiss her. And they kissed for what seemed like eternity. The rest of the students were jumping up and down, obviously to the newly formed relationship.

* * *

"Julia, hurry up!" Clare called from downstairs the next day.

"Huh?" she muttered, being pulled from her trance. She had been starring at her rose all day, thinking about her boyfriend. She loved the sound of that. Having said that to herself all night and this morning, it still wasn't old. She placed her rose on her dresser, fixed her hair in her vanity mirror, smooth out her flower girl dress, then grabbed her rose, and ran downstairs. "Ready!" she announced, slipping on her heels.

"Why have you been clinging onto the flower for dear life?" Eli asked as Clare straightened out his purple tie. He was the best man.

"I think it's pretty," Julia said. She felt like she was lying, because she was, but she wasn't at the same time. She really did think that it was pretty.

"Okay, but you giving it to me before the ceremony," Clare instructed, coming over and fixing Julia's hair.

She groaned, "Mom!" as Clare brushed her bangs further to the side.

"Julia, please."

She glared. "You owe me!"

"Mommy!" LA yelled running down the stair. "How do put this on?" He held up his purple tie.

"Here," Eli offered, fixing LA's tie. "I'm surprised you got the rest on correctly."

"You're welcome," Julia smirked. "The kid came into my room every minute for help."

"Thank you," Clare thanked, kissing the top of her head. She grabbed the camera off the counter. "Okay, we have to go. Hurry up, LA. Get your shoes on."

Once Julia tied his shoes for him, Clare ushered everyone out the door and over to her Freestyle (Clare was NOT going to show up to a wedding in a hearse).

"Was she this crazy for yours?" Julia asked as Eli opened her door.

"Crazier, if you can believe that."

**… … …**

"You look beautiful, Aunt Fi," LA said.

"Aw! Thank You, LA!" Fiona hugged him. "You look very handsome yourself."

"Thank you," LA smiled.

"He's so polite!" Holly J commented.

"You're raising a lady's man," Jenna giggled.

"I know, I know. He's gets it from me," Clare joked. "Okay, Jenna, Holly J, you're in front of me. Julia, LA, you guys walk out in front of Aunt Fiona when the music started. Got it?"

"Yep," Julia answered, putting her hand on LA's back to guide him up to her.

"Good. This has to be perfect."

"Clare, calm down," Fiona commanded. "This is my wedding and you're freaking out more than I am."

"I helped plan this, so it's important to me. I'm sorry."

"Just relax," Jenna said, before we heard music start playing. "That's my cue." She turned around and walk down the aisle, followed be Holly J and Clare.

The music stopped. Julia got LA into position next to her as new music started. "Good luck," Julia said back to Fiona. She smiled back and the doors opened. Julia and LA walked into the chapel and she threw the pedals onto the floor. Everybody stood up, so she knew Fiona must have come in. This was the start of an eventful Valentine's Day.

**… … …**

"That was a really beautiful ceremony," Clare said as she danced with Eli.

"Yeah, it was."

"I just wish Alli was there. We invited her."

"She's here," Eli said, looking behind her.

"No, she's not. I didn't see her."

"Then why am I looking at her right now?" He pointed behind her.

"What?" She turned around and looked to where he was pointing. There she was! She was in a blue, spaghetti strap dress and her hair was up. That was all that she could tell she was wear because she was sitting behind a table.

The song ended and Clare dragged Eli over to her. "Alli!" She held out her arms for a hug.

"Clare!" Alli squealed standing up to hug her. But something was different. There was a big difference. Clare felt the difference. She looked down to see Alli's extended stomach.

"Oh, my God, Alli, you're… you're…"

"Pregnant," she finished.

"Last time we talked, you were single!"

"I still am."

"Wait," Eli interjected. "So you're single and pregnant?"

"Y… Yeah…" Alli answered, nervously.

"Who's the father?"

She looked like she didn't want to answer, but she caved. "Drew…"

"And he left you?"

"Not technically."

"I want to know what happened and if I have to sick Julia on him," Eli said.

"Okay, it was any typical Friday night. I went out to a club. It had just opened and I had to check it out. And it was crappy, so on my way home, I ran into Drew. He took me to this bar, ordered some drinks, and things took a turn for the naughty," Alli explained, blushing.

"And does Drew know?"

"Yeah. Of course."

"For how long as he known?"

She bit on her lip. "An hour…" she managed to squeak out.

"An hour? Alli, you look like your seven months along!"

"Eight," she corrected.

"So how did he react?" Eli asked.

"I told him that my baby was his and he looked like he was going to puke."

"Well, that's always a good sign," Eli murmured sarcastically.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Clare asked.

"Because you would give me the angry third degree, like right now."

"The third degree wouldn't have sounded mad if you weren't this far along. But I'm not mad, Alli. I'm defiantly not mad. Just disappointed…"

"That's worse!"

"Let me finish. I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me! I've been through pregnancy twice! I have many tips!"

"Speaking of your pregnancies," Eli interrupted, looking at Clare, "Where's the first one?"

"Um…" Clare honestly didn't know.

"I thought I saw her walk outside," Alli helped.

"Thanks. I'm going to go get her." And with that, he walked out.

**… … …**

Julia stepped off the dance floor, dragging LA with her. "I'm never doing that again."

"Ditto," Julia agreed. The adults forced them to slow dance together. She tried to get her dad to talk them out of it, but he couldn't stop them. She took her heels off. "I just want to get out of these heels. They're killing me."

"Well, you have been standing on them for about six hours," LA reminded.

"Don't remind me," Julia groaned. "I'm going to try to walk it off." Holding onto her shoes, she limped over to the entrance to the reception room. Once outside, she sat down on the steps, looking at the house across the street. _"It must suck to live there,"_ she thought as she listened to the pop music coming from behind her. Before she closed her eyes to rest, she saw the door open across the street. A boy about her age stepped out. The porch light was on, so she could see that he had black hair and was wear a pair of baggy red and black plaid sleep pant and a black V neck shirt. He looked really familiar. Then she remembered: that's Brady's house. She stood up. "Brady?" she whispered. "Brady!" she yelled. The boy turned towards her.

"Julia…" she heard him say, before he ran across the street. His face became clearer as he got closer. "Julia, what are you doing here… in that?"

"The wedding reception."

"Oh, yeah. So any guys that asked you to dance that I should beat up?" he asked, dead serious.

"Only my little brother and we were forced to," she laughed along with Brady.

"Well, do you plan on dancing with a cute dude tonight?" He took her hands.

"Maybe if I've known that cute guy since I was six and he's my boyfriend. Then we'll talk," she smirked. He took out his iPod, placed an ear bud in her ear, then his, and turned on "Ashley" by Escape The Fate. They put themselves into the same position as last night and started to dance.

"We are the one ones I know who can slow dance to a fast song like this," Brady laughed.

"Yeah, we're special like that," she responded. "And you do realize that my name isn't Ashley."

"I know, but the meaning doesn't change."

Julia smiled, thinking about how cheesy that sounded, then went to her tip-toes to kiss him. And she did. They kissed for about have of the song. She didn't feel ten when she was with him and she loved it. He pulled apart as "Gorgeous Nightmare" came on.

"Happy Valentine's Day." He pulled out a small box and handed it to her.

"A key?" she asked, taking the black key with the Black Veil Brides symbol on it out of the box.

"How cheesy would it be if I told you that was the key to my heart?"

"Very," she giggled.

His face went paler than usual. "Then never mind," he said slowly, taking the box back slowly too.

She busted out laughing and took the box back. "I'm kidding. It was cheesy, but cute. Thank you, Brady." She took off her necklace and slipped the key onto it. Handing him the necklace, she asked, "Could you…?"

"Sure."

She lifted her hair as he slipped the necklace around the front of her head, down to her neck, and clasped it in the back.

"Thank you. And do you want to know your present?"

"You didn't have to get me…"

"Oh no," she interrupted, shoving him against a nearby tree. "I insist." And they went back to kissing, still listening to Escape the Fate. After about four and a half songs, something interrupted them. Or, more like, someone.

"OH, MY GOD! JULIA CAROLYN GOLDSWORTHY!"

"Oh, crap," she whispered, her face turning paler than it had ever been. She turned towards the voice. "Hi, Daddy…"

* * *

**OOOHHH! She's SO busted!**

**So how was it? Did you like the Brulia parts? Was the wedding good? How do feel about Alli's surprise? Tell me in the **_**REVIEW**_**!**

**So the juicy stuff is just starting. Do you guys have any idea about the drama? Tell me what you think it is! If it's good, I just might find a way to work it in the story (especially if it involves LA, because I have about three plotlines for Julia, but only one for LA) Suggestions are greatly appreciated!**

**Thanks for Reading and Review please! **


	10. Julia Age 13 LA Age 9

**Hey, my dear readers! I love this chapter. New people arrive, old rivals appear, and DRAMA offically starts!**

**I had a lot of people ask me this, so heres the answer: Julia was 10 and LA was 6. I said that Julia was 10 towards the end. If you take Julia's age, just subtract four to get LA's.**

**Also, some of the names may sound weird, but I don't name my character's justany name. I carefully choose them. I look up the meanings of a lot of the names and chose the ones i think sound cool. Cool?**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"LA, heads up!" Mayson called, throwing the football. LA ran, jumped up, and caught it.

"You have to try better than that," LA laughed, throwing it back.

"Well, not all of us can be the star quarterback," Mayson retorted. "But thanks for helping me."

"No prob," LA insisted. "It's fun. And I'm really improving my arm. Now make me run for it."

Mayson drew his arm back and threw. The ball went over LA's head and was heading towards a girl in the next yard who was watching movers move a box the house next door.

"Calissa, watch out!" a boy yelled from the door.

She turned around, screamed, and put her hands in front of her face.

LA ran towards her, trying to be faster than the ball. He got in front of her just in time to catch the ball. "Are you okay?"

She removed her hand and looked into LA's eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." She smoothed down her really curly, long, brown hair and LA could now see her green eyes.

"Mayson, she's fine!" he called back to him, who nodded back to him.

"So are you moving in?"

"Yeah, we just moved from Vancouver." She stuck her hand out. "I'm Calissa."

He shook her hand. "LA."

"As in Los Angeles?"

"No," he laughed. He got that question a lot. "My real name's Adam, but I was named after my 'Uncle'."

"And the quotations were for…?"

"He's not my biological uncle. He's my dad's best friend," he explained. "Anyway, before I was born, everyone was calling me Little Adam, so my sister's best friend just shortened it to LA."

"Cool. So I guess you don't like to be called Adam?"

"Only if I'm in trouble."

"Okay, LA," she giggled as the boy from the door came out.

"Hey, is he bothering you?" the boy asked. He had short brown hair like his sister, but his eyes were brown.

"No, Cayden, he's fine," she answered. "Cayden, this is LA, our neighbor. LA, this is my twin brother, Cayden."

"Hey, dude," LA said, trying to be friendly, but all he got back was a glare.

"We have to finish unpacking," Cayden said, before grabbing onto her arm. "Come on."

"I'll see you later, LA," she called back to him before her brother closed the door.

"Wow. Talk about over-protective," he grumbled. "And I thought Dad was bad about Julia. OW!" He grabbed the back of his head and looked behind him, seeing the football on the ground.

"Come on, dude!" Mayson yelled, waiting for him to throw the ball back.

"So you threw it at my head?"

"You wouldn't stop talking to her! We need to practice!"

He picked up the ball, groaned then threw it back.

**… … …**

Eli was walking towards his bed room after work to change out of his work close when something caught his attention. "Just do it, Brady!" Eli heard Julia say from behind the bathroom door.

"I just don't want you to regret it," he whined.

"_What the hell!"_ Eli thought, moving closer to the door. He knew that Brady was her boyfriend, but he didn't think that they would be having sex. _"No, they can't be doing that!"_

"I'm not going to regret it. Now do it!" she begged.

"_They better not be..."_ He wasn't about to have his little girl 'deflowered' in his house by that boy.

"It may hurt a little," Brady warned.

"Okay, enough trying to talk me out of it! This was going to happen one way or another!" Julia yelled. "Just put it in!"

And that broke him.

That was it. Eli barged into the room. "What the hell are you guys… doing…?"

Julia looked back at her dad with fear in her eyes as she gripped the towel around her neck. Brady still had the hair dye kit in his hand over her head.

"Dad… what are you doing?" Julia asked, terrified.

"Um…" He wasn't about to tell his daughter that he thought she was doing something naughty with her boyfriend. "I, uh, just wanted to know. Thought maybe…"

"You thought we were having sex, weren't you?" she asked, bluntly, glaring at him.

"What? No!" he played it off. "Absolutely not. Of course not… yes…"

"Figured," Julia scoffed. "You raised me to know better, Dad."

"Dude, no… n-no. I'm sorry, but I will not be 'doing' your daughter anytime soon."

"Well, that's good to know." And things were awkward. "So… what are you doing?"

"He's dyeing my hair."

"You know how to do that?"

"I'm a natural blonde," Brady mentioned. "I've learned how do it."

"You're let you dye your hair when you were seven?"

"Four," Brady corrected, starting to dye her hair. "It's a long story."

"I've got time," Eli said, leaning against the door frame. He was really interested, but he just wanted to make sure they didn't do anything inappropriate.

"Let's just say," Brady started, sighing, "my brother had blonde hair."

Eli was confused. "Um… you don't have a brother…"

"Exactly."

"You know, you told me that, but that's it!" Julia mentioned. "Why haven't you told me the full story?"

"Fine. I'm only telling you this because you guys are like family." He sighed. "Okay, when I was born, my family was me, my mom, my dad, and my older brother, Bryson. He was about three years old when I was born. We looked actually the same.

"When I was about three old, we found out Bryson had leukemia. It was really bad. Every treatment we did wouldn't work. I was afraid to lose my brother, my best friend. But he knew he had to go. So one day, April 22, he died."

"Oh, my god…" Julia cried, trying to hold back the tears that were already coming down her cheeks.

"After his death, every time I looked in the mirror, I saw my brother. It was really hard on me. So I just had enough grief. I told my parents and they said I could dye my hair," Brady said, working on Julia's hair.

"That same day Julia died," Eli remembered. "The one we named her after," Eli said, seeing Brady's confused face.

"You showed no emotion during that," Julia remarked. "I'm starting to think that you aren't human."

"I guess, after a while, you come to terms with it," Brady shrugged.

"It's still not right," she complained before Brady finished her hair.

"And now we wait," Brady announced.

"I'm sorry, Brady, but I can't see you with blonde hair," Eli snickered.

"Of course not. You've never seen me with blonde hair."

"Touché," Eli smirked. "Okay, I'll leave you guys alone now. Have fun." He then left, leaving the two teenagers by themselves.

"Were you serious?" Julia asked, turning to face him.

"Yeah. I don't lie about my brother."

"Not that! The part about…" Her face turned a deep shade of red.

"Julia, really?" He turned down the volume of his voice. "Sex? Dude, you're only 13! I'm 14! Do we really have to talk about that now?"

"Yes we do, and I'll be 14 in May!"

"And I'll be 15 in April. That's months away! It's January!" he insisted. "And we're a little young."

"But I love you, Brady!" She cried out.

"I love you, too, Julia." He took her face in his hands, making her look him in the eyes. "That's why I won't let you do it."

She groaned, then sighed, "Okay. But when we're really ready?"

"Defiantly," he smirked, then kissed her.

**… … …**

"Hey, Mom, why are you baking brownies?" LA asked, coming through the front door, still in his football jersey.

"To take to the new neighbors," Clare informed, putting the brownies onto a tray.

"Oh, cool. Can I come? They're kids are in my grade," LA asked.

"Sure, sweetie."

"Awesome. Calissa seems nice, but Cayden: I don't think he likes me very much."

"And why is that?" Eli asked, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

"It may have to do with the fact that Mayson and I almost took off Calissa's head with a football."

"I don't want to know," Clare groaned.

"Anyway, I didn't get to meet their parent's, but if they're like Calissa, the Fitzgeralds' should be nice."

Clare and Eli's head turned quickly towards their son. "Fitzgerald?"

"I assume. Calissa and Cayden's last name is Fitzgerald."

The color ran out of his parents faces. "Maybe it's not him"

"Clare, seriously? How many Fitzgeralds' do think there are in world?"

"I don't know!" Clare insisted. "Just trying to be optimistic." Picking up the brownie tray, she headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Eli asked, as LA ran towards his mom.

"I'm going to find out." And with that, she was heading towards the neighbors.

She rang the bell, nervously. "Be nice," Clare warned LA as she smoothed out her skirt.

The door opened, revealing a woman around Clare's height who had light brown hair that fell halfway down her back. She had on a yellow long skirt, white short sleeve shirt, and a yellow sweater tied around her neck. "Hello?"

Clare smiled, happy it wasn't Fitz who answered. "Hi! I'm Clare and this is my son, LA. We're your neighbors. We' thought we'd come and welcome you to the neighborhood."

"With brownies!" LA interrupted.

"Well, aren't you cute?" The woman complimented, taking the tray Clare handed to her. "Thank you. I'm Caitlyn. My husband, Mark, is up stairs. Hold on. MARK! COME DOWN HERE!"

"Coming," came a voice.

"LA!" Calissa cried, coming to the door with Cayden following her. "I thought I heard your voice."

"These are my twins, Calissa and Cayden."

"Hey, Calissa, Cayden," LA greeted.

"Adam," Cayden said, sourly, not bothering to call him by his preferred name.

_"What did I do to him?"_ LA thought.

"Yes, honey," a man said coming down stairs. Clare's heart stopped.

"Fitz?"

"Clare?" he asked, then his face lite up. "Clare! How have you been? Please, call me Mark."

And now she was confused. How could this be the same Fit… Mark… that tried to stab her husband. "Good to see you, too?"

"Is this your little boy?" he asked, ruffling LA's hair.

"Um, yeah. This is LA and I have a 13 year old daughter…"

"Hey, Mom!" Julia interrupted, coming out to the front door of their house in a Three Days Grace red and black shirt, red and black short skirt, black leggings than went halfway down her shin, and a black and red beanie. "I'm going over to Brady's!"

"And that would be her," Clare laughed. "Okay, Julia! Be home by 8!"

"No promises!" Julia called back, walking down the street.

"Looks like you got your hands full with her," Mark, chuckled.

"Yep, 13 and a junior in high school, has her first boyfriend, two friends max: normal teenager."

"I bet. She must look like her dad."

"Oh, she does, from her looks to her mind. Nothing from me."

"So did Saint Clare end up with? Let me guess: my good buddy, Eli?"

Hesitating, she answered, "Yes…"

"The hearse gave it away," he smiled. "Well, I bet you have better things to do than talk to us."

"Oh, no! It's fine. We just thought we would come over, welcome you to the neighborhood."

"Well, thank you. We'll see you around?" Caitlyn asked.

Clare smiled. "Defiantly." The Fitgeralds' said goodbye and Clare and LA started home.

"Wow…" Honestly, the new Fitz surprised her, but in good way. He's different from high school. Maybe things would be good between them.

"What, Mom?"

"Nothing… nothing you should know now," Clare insisted. "Ask your dad when you're older."

**… … …**

"So do you remember what today is?" Julia asked, leaning against Brady's chest as they listen to his iPod.

"How could I forget? February 13th, our anniversary." He kissed the top of her head. He pulled out a black flower. "Happy Three Year Anniversary."

"Thank you," she smiled, taking it. "How have we been together for three years? We're the youngest kids in our grade, but we've been together the longest."

"Because we truly love each other," Brady smirked.

"Too bad Brookie can't find a steady boyfriend," Julia said, referring to Brookie's many lovers. Calder broke up with her a month after Valentine's Day. She then had a string of relationships with Welden, Conway, Douglas, Dover, Bain, River, Wayde, Berytt, Layke, and her latest with Carswell, star of the baseball team. If Brookie's relationships taught Julia anything, it was that one 1) being a cheerleader doesn't get you an honest guy (many cheated on her) and 2) there are a lot of weird names for kids now.

"Yep. Not everyone can have Brady."

"Ego big enough for you?" Julia giggled.

"Could be bigger."

Julia laughed, Brady wrapped his arms around her, and they stayed in that position for a while. Many would have thought they were asleep. Brady almost was until Julia woke him up, wide awake, with three simple words: "Brady, I'm ready."

"What?"

"Brady, I love you more than life. And we technically are older now than when we first talked about it. And I know you don't want to, but…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he interrupted, sitting up and facing her. "Who said I didn't want to?"

"You did when you dyed my hair."

Brady sighed. "I said I loved you too much to take your virginity while you barely a teenager."

"Age is a number," Julia cried.

"That's what rapists say!"

"Don't change the subject! I love you and I want to prove it!"

Brady swiftly reached up and kissed her. She didn't fight him, but gently pushed him down on his bed. They kissed for what seemed like hours, both in paradise. Brady hoped that this would take her mind off of what they were talking about, until… she started to slip off his Black Veil Brides shirt. That was it.

"Are you positive?" he asked, breaking away from her.

"Never been more," she smirked. She went back to kissing him. Articles of clothes were then removed. And they swapped things they can never get back.

**… … …**

"LA, do you need help with your homework?" Clare said, as she did the dishes and watched LA at the table.

"Um, no," he answered, shutting his math book. "I'm done." After throwing his stuff back in his back pack, he jumped off the chair. "I'm going to go play video games!" he announced.

"Have fun," Clare sighed, putting up the last dish. She walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch. She turned on Lifetime Movie Network and started watching 'She's Too Young'. The movie made her think of Julia. She really hoped that this wouldn't happen to her. She sighed.

"What's wrong?" Eli asked, walking into the living room.

"Have you ever felt… not needed?" Clare asked.

"Why?"

"Because you guys don't need me."

"Clare, of course we need you," he insisted. "LA won't be doing what he loves if it wasn't for you. I probably wouldn't around if it wasn't for you." Eli paused as they heard a door open and shut quickly and the sounds of someone puking coming from upstairs. "I think Julia needs you right now."

"I know, but you guys can do a lot of things for yourself."

"What are you implying?" Eli asked, following Clare off the couch.

She was at the stairs, ready to go help Julia, when she turned around. "I want another baby."

**… … …**

"Here," Brookie said, handing Julia a brown bag.

She put the bag into her backpack. "Thank you so much, Brookie. You're the best friend a person can have."

"Honestly, I thought it would be vice versa."

"Oh, shut up," Julia groaned, opening the door to head home.

**… … …**

April 12th: Brady's birthday, the day Julia had to come to terms with a secret. She had his present planned out since January, but now there's something else.

She looked in the mirror, making sure her black, mid-thigh length, dress looked smooth. She turned sideways, sucked in her stomach, and smoothed the fabric over it. Before she could do anything, the door bang rang.

She ran downstairs and opened the door, revealing Brady in black skinny jeans, a black dress shirt, black vest and a red tie.

"Fancy," Julia remarked as he hugged her.

"Nothing but the best," he smirked, coming into the living room. "So where is everyone?"

"LA is over at Mayson's and my parents agreed to give us some privacy, so they're upstairs." Julia sat down on the couch, pulling Brady with her.

"Cool. So what do you want to do?"

"We need to talk," Julia insisted, handing him a rectangular box, "after you open your present."

"Julia, I told you I didn't want anything."

"Trust me, you'll want this," she said, very serious.

Brady gave her a questioning look, then took the lid off. He looked down at his present for a minute, then back at Julia, with a horrified look on his face, then back at the present. "Are you serious?"

Julia started to cry, then nodded. "I'm sorry."

Quickly embracing her, he started to stroke her hair. "It's okay. It's okay."

"No, it's not Brady," she cried. "What are you going to do?"

"Me? What about you? You're not going to…"

"Of course not! I'm…" She didn't want to say her plan out loud, so she whispered it into his ear.

"Really, Julia? Is that smart?"

"It's all I can think of!"

He sighed. "Count me in."

"Brady, you don't have to."

"Yes, I do. I'll do anything for you." He kissed her. "Just tell me when."

"Right now," she answered. "I'm ready."

He sighed. "Okay." He pulled her off the couch. She grabbed her backpack. "Let's go." And with that, they left.

"Guys, I'm sorry to intrude, but I just needed a… guys?" Eli looked around the living room for Julia and Brady, but they weren't there. He shrugged it off, knowing that he would have heard if they went upstairs. As he walked towards the kitchen, he noticed a box with the lid off. Curiosity got the better of him, so he looked inside. His eyes widen and he yelled, "Clare!"

"What?" she asked, coming down stairs in short pajama bottoms and a tank top with her hair messed up from their 'attempt'.

"Is this from you?" he asked, holding the box.

"No…" she answered, confused. She took the box. "Do you realize what this is? This is a pregnancy test!"

He shook his head. "Not just any pregnancy. This is a positive pregnancy test."

* * *

**And DRAMA! What was Julia's plan? How will Clare and Eli react? Why does Cayden hate LA? What do you think? Review!**

**So was it predictable? caught you by surprise? Tell me.**

**Also, PLUG TIME! I have a series of EClare/Escape The Fate song fics up. If you love EClare and Escape The Fate, go read them. If you love EClare, but never heard of Escape The Fate, read them anyways. If you just love Escape The Fate... why are you reading an EClare fic? **

**So Thanks For Reading and Review!**


	11. Julia Age 14 LA Age 10

**I'm Back! Finally! Sorry this took me forever, but with high school scheduling (eighth grader here), a birthday party (seriously? He turned 14. Did he really need a bowling party?), and writer block (worst thing **_**EVER**_**), it was hard to write. But I finished it!**

**I had a lot of people tell me that Julia was too young. Yes, I know that. But there is a story behind the plot.**

**I moved before eighth grade and, through the power of Facebook, I found out that I girl who was in most of my classes in seventh grade is pregnant. **

**I did this plotline to raise awareness of early teen pregnancies.**

**Also, I have 4 reviewers of my apology note (I took it down) that inspired me SO much that I finished this during the NASCAR Budweiser Shootout (I'm a total NASCAR GIRL! Hate all other sports, but love NASCAR. Love Labonte and Logano). So you, along with me, can thank eclarefanaticxoxo, CraZybitch, DegrassiFFLover12, and Hamester157. Thank you so much! It means the world to me that you really like this story. These stories are the first time anyone has read my work. **

**So now that my LONG intro is done, you may read the story. **

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**"Eli, calm down," Adam said, watching Eli pace around the living room.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?" he yelled back at him. "How am I supposed to calm down when my pregnant, now 14-year-old daughter and her boyfriend are missing?"

"Panicking isn't going to help." He took Eli by his shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "We will find them."

"But how? We've been looking over a month," Eli sighed, flopping down on the couch.

"We're not the only ones looking," Adam reminded. "Brookie and LA have been looking non-stop."

Eli smirked for the first time in a while. His son really loved his sister. He was so dedicated to find her and nothing would stop him. He even said once that he was going to kill Brady when they find them. "Yeah. The boy's a trooper."

"And Fiona and Clare are doing everything they can."

"Yep. I just feel… like I can't help her. I want to be there for her so badly. She needs her dad now, to help her. Sure, I'm really pissed off, but that doesn't mean I won't help with my grandkid…"

"Wait!" Adam interrupted. "It was a home pregnancy test, right? It could have been a false positive."

"We know. Clare and I talked about the possibility, but we don't think she would just leave if she wasn't," he explained as Adam went to the kitchen.

He came back and handed Eli a cup of coffee. He smiled, "I remember when she was about six months old and you were all about her. You stayed up for nights with her and were running on a dump truck load of coffee."

He half-laughed, half-sighed. "Yeah. I love that girl."

"It's obvious," Adam smirked. "That's why you can't give up on her."

"I know… I know."

* * *

"Julia? Are you okay?" Brady asked, patting her back as she was puking.

"Just fine," she groaned sarcastically. She sat down, leaning against the tree. "I feel like crap. How long does morning sickness last?"

"I don't know. That's why we need your mom…"

"Brady, I said no!" Julia barked. "I can't go back."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to disappoint them…"

"Julia, running away is going to disappoint them even more!"

She took a minute to take that in. With her eyes starting to water, she buried herself into his chest. "I'm so sorry!" she cried.

He started patting her back, trying to comfort her. "It's okay, it's okay." He started to rock her in hopes that it would help.

"I'm just ruining everything."

"No you're not," Brady whispered, smoothing down her hair. "I am."

"You? You're not the one pregnant."

"I know. I'm just the moron that got you pregnant."

"You're not a moron, Brady," Julia whispered, almost asleep in his arms.

"Quit defending me," he smirked.

Just before she fell asleep, she managed to say, "I love you, Brady."

He smiled. "Love you, too, both of you."

**… … …**

Julia slowly came back to consciousness. Yawning, she sat up and stretched. "Brady, are you awake?"

"Brady's not here."

Her eyes shoot open. "Brady?" She looked around, but all that was around her was black, until a glint of light caught her eyes. Standing in front of her was a girl with thick, black hair that thinned out as it got to the ends and a black and crimson strapless dress that came highway up her thigh.

"Like he said, he's not here," she said, starting to walk around her.

Julia's breathing became shallow and she started to panic. "W-Where am I?"

"Um, dream-like state?" the girl guessed. "I don't know."

"Who are you?" Julia asked, trying to sound confident, but it came out as a squeak.

The girl smirked. "I'm Julia, the one you were named after."

"Wait!" Julia said, a shocked look upon her face. "My dad's ex-girlfriend, Julia? I thought you were dead."

"I am."

"Then how are you…"

"Listen, kid, I don't know everything," she spat with her hands on her hips. "But I've been watching you for the past 14 years."

"Well, I feel stalked."

Angel Julia groaned. "Oh, my god. You're my first love's first kid, only daughter, and he named you after me. I feel obliged to watch over you, to protect you, and the only way to protect you this time is to actually talk to you, inside your dreams."

She was still confused. "O…kay? Well, what do you need to tell me?"

Two simple words flowed out: "Go home."

Her eyes widened, starting to water. "I can't! You watch over me! You know why!"

Angel Julia sighed, "I know, I know. You're afraid of your parents being mad about the baby, but you're not the only one I still watch over. Come here." Reaching behind her, she pulled a small, black heart from her bag.

Julia stood up, cautiously walked over, and peered into the now open heart.

_"We're not the only ones looking," Uncle Adam reminded. "Brookie and LA have been looking non-stop."_

_Her dad smirked. "Yeah. The boy's a trooper."_

_"And Fiona and Clare are doing everything they can."_

_"Yep. I just feel… like I can't help her. I want to be there for her so badly. She needs her dad now, to help her. Sure, I'm really pissed off, but that doesn't mean I won't help with my grandkid…"_

Angel Julia then snapped the heart shut. "Pretty blunt and to the point, but do you get what I'm saying?"

"I… I understand," she admitted, still looking at heart. "Everyone- my friends, my family- they all want me back. It doesn't matter that I'm…" She still didn't like to admit that she was with child sometimes.

"Pregnant," Angel Julia finished for her. "Nope. You need go back."

"But what about Brady?"

"He follows your lead. He's your sidekick, your partner in crime," she smirked. "If you want to go, he'll follow."

Julia smiled. "Thanks, thanks for everything."

"Anytime. Well, not literally anytime, but you know what I mean." She turned to walk away, then turned back around. "Oh, and tell your dad I said hi."

"Will do," Julia laughed before Angel Julia disappeared.

"Julia. Julia, wake up," a voice filled the room as it turned black again.

**… … …**

"Julia, wake up," Brady whispered, moving his hands down her hair.

She opened her eyes to see a smiling Brady. She smiled back at him. "Brady, can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

She smirked up at him. "Seriously."

"Go ahead."

Taking a dramatic pause, as if to test what she was going to say out loud in her mind, she then said, "Can you take me home?"

Smiling, he helped her sit up. "Never thought you'd ask."

**… … …**

Eli sat down on the couch, watching the 11 o'clock news. Clare and a reluctant LA had gone to sleep, but Eli wanted to be up. He just couldn't sleep not knowing where his little girl was or if she was safe. A new story came on. It was about a teenager being shot to death that morning. Even though he didn't want to, he had to watch, just to make sure it wasn't Julia… or Brady. But it wasn't and he then could breathe again. Every time something like came on, he had a mini heart attack in fear that it was his daughter.

Just as he had started to relax again, he heard a noise coming from the front door. Curious, he walked over to it and heard the noise again. He went into the kitchen, grabbed the nearest utensil, a whisk, and went back to the door. Staying close to the wall, he opened the door, and then proceeded to jump in the door way, whisk raised to attack.

"AH!" Julia shrieked, cowering back, key in hand, as Brady moved in front of her.

Eli's eyes went out of his head. "J-J-J… Julia?"

She pushed Brady's shoulder out of the way to face her dad. "Hi, Daddy," she said, weakly.

"Julia," he sighed, then pushed Brady out of the way to pick up his daughter in a hug. But he couldn't help feel her small baby bump. He set her down. "So you are pregnant."

She nodded before bending down to pick up the whisk. "What were you going to do: whisk us to death?"

"Come inside," he commanded, ignoring her comment.

Julia looked back at Brady with a sad, worried look on her face. Brady grabbed her hand and walked inside.

"What's going on?" Clare asked, coming down the stairs in her baby blue robe. She rubbed her eyes, looked towards Julia and Brady, and looked rubbed her eyes in disbelief. "J-Julia?"

"Hey, Mom." She gave her a weak smile and wimpy wave.

"JULIA!" Clare ran over to her and hugged her tightly.

"Mom… Mom… Can't breathe…" she pleaded, her face turning blue.

"But I can't let go! You may leave again!"

"Mom, you're going to hurt Baby Lancaster!" Julia cried.

Clare's grip loosened and she released her. Her stare was very serious. "Julia Carolyn Goldsworthy, are you pregnant?"

"Obviously. I just implied that."

"No smart mouth from you," Clare ordered. "You are in trouble, so much trouble. You're barley 14, 13 when you left! How could you?"

Julia looked from Eli to Brady, then back to Clare. "I'm sorry, Mom."

Clare sighed. "How far along are you?"

"Um…" She started to count on her fingers. After a couple of minutes of mumbling, she answered, "I'm almost four months. We… 'did it' in February." She grabbed her mom's hand and placed in on her stomach. "Feel that bump? That's your grandchild."

She was silent for a moment, taking it in. Inside her daughter, her own flesh and blood, was another life. It was beautiful and her daughter never looked happier than when she said "grandchild."

"Julia…" She was lost for words.

"Crazy, huh?" Julia whispered back. "I've been around people that were pregnant, but it's different when it was you. For once in my life, I feel needed, like there's something to live for."

"And her name is Oliviera," Brady interjected.

"Oliviera?" Eli asked.

Julia smirked, then sighed. "He thinks Baby Lancaster is going to be girl and he's always loved that name. But, sad for him, we're having a boy and his name's going to be Dunstan."

"Oliviera? Dunstan? You guys have some crazy names picked out."

"They're real names!" Julia protested, giggling. "Look them up!"

Eli walked over to her wife and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Never thought I would be hearing this conversation now."

"Just be happy she's home, that they're home."

**… … …**

"LA?" Julia whispered into his room. With no reply, she walked in and sat down on her knees by his bed. She pushed his curly, auburn hair from his face as he slept. He looked so peaceful and she didn't want to wake him up, but they needed to talk.

LA groaned a little. "What, Mom?" he asked.

"I'm not Mom."

His eyes opened immediately. "Julia!" he cried. "You're back!"

She got up off the ground and sat on LA's bed. "Yep."

LA threw his arm around her and started to cry. "I thought you were never going to come back."

She patted his back, letting him cry. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left in the first place." She pushed him off of her, then wiped in cheeks with her thumb. "But I couldn't leave you to fend off Mom and Dad alone, especially through your fast-approaching teenage years."

LA chuckled quietly. "Nope."

They sat there in an in silence for a while. They were both uncomfortable, but also relieved in a way.

"So…" LA broke the awkwardness, "Mom and Dad have been talking about… your baby. Is it true?"

She sighed, then laid down on his bed. "Yep."

"Did Brady… want to…?" he asked, extremely uncomfortable.

"It took a lot of talking, but… I'll tell you when you're older." She started to stroke his hair, trying to get him to calm down and get more comfortable. She was his sister and, despite popular belief, she loved him. They have always been there for each other. Julia helped him relearn his love of hockey after he got a concussion during a game and he helped her stop biting herself. They may fight and make fun of each other a lot, but, deep down, they were best friends. "But don't blame Brady, okay?"

LA smiled, "I'll try not to."

"You're such a freak," Julia whispered, smiling, not smirking.

"And you're a vampire," he mocked. "But I'm probably going to end up killing him."

* * *

"We'll watch her!" Julia eagerly offered. Alli and Clare's eyes widened as they turned towards Julia and Brady.

"We need the practice," Brady explained.

"Besides Melina loves us. Right Mel?"

Melina, Alli's four-year-old daughter, came running up to them, her pink flower dress flowing behind her, and hugged Brady's leg. "Uh-huh!" she agreed.

Alli sighed. "Okay, you watch her while I'm in Paris." She had a big fashion meeting she had to go to.

"Yes," Julia whispered. "Thank you. She'll be on her best behavior. We promise, right?"

"Totally!" Melina squealed.

"Okay, we'll be back Friday." Alli picked up Melina. "Come on. Bye, guys."

"BYE!" Melina called before shutting the door.

Clare turned to them. "You guys are in for a world of trouble."

"Come on. She's four," Julia said. "How hard can it be?"

**… … …**

"UGH!" Julia laid down on the messed up couch.

It was Friday night. Melina was dropped off around noon. Since then, the living room turned from clean to pigsty. Dress-up clothes were everywhere, hanging from the lamps, T.V, and couch. A tea set was scattered around the room. The T.V. had on Sesame Street, Melina favorite show **(AN: that show will be on forever, man. I swear)**. Crayons, markers, and colored pencils were all over the coffee table.

Julia closed her eyes, trying to block out Melina's squeals and giggles. "For the love of all that is good, shut up…" she whispered.

Brady plopped down next to her. "She put make-up on me. Where does a four-year-old get make-up? This is so weird."

"Well, duh," Julia giggled, wiping his eyelid. "That eye shadow doesn't go with your eye color."

Brady smirked. "Shut up, Goldsworthy."

"Having fun?" Eli asked, coming downstairs. His head moved as he examined the room.

"Does it look like it?" she asked, watching Melina run across the room in a pink puffy dress and purple lipstick.

"No. It looks Brady got a glam make-over," Eli laughed as he walked into the kitchen.

Brady groaned. "Mr. Goldsworthy, I respect you and all, but shut up."

He laughed even harder, tossing a water bottle at each of them before opening his. "Need help?"

"With what: my makeover or Melina?"

"Melina."

Julia smiled. "Thank you, Daddy." Eli walked over to Melina as Brady helped Julia get up. Before he could help, Julia pulled him to the other side of the room.

"I'm not ready."

"Ready for what?"

She gave him the 'Are You Serious?' look. "I'm not ready; we're not ready to be parents."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, shocked by her decision. She was so excited to keep their baby.

She sighed. "I'm seven months along, two months until our baby comes. We've been trying to become good parents, but… we just aren't ready, not now."

"We don't need to be ready now," Brady said.

She couldn't look at him. "I'm sorry…"

"You're right." He hugged her. "We aren't ready. I've known that, but I've just ignored it."

"Thank you," she whispered into his chest.

"So what's the plan?"

"Well…"

**… … …**

"Are you sure, Julia?" Clare asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"We're positive," Julia answered, nodding. "We talked about it all night." Brady's parents kicked him out for getting Julia pregnant, then running away with her.

"This is a big decision," Eli said dead serious.

"We know," Brady spoke up. "We think adoption is the best option for us."

Eli sighed. "Okay, do you have an agency in mind?"

"Actually, we have some parents in mind," Julia answered, "if they still want another baby."

Clare and Eli looked at each other in a state a shock. "Y-You mean…"

"Mom, Dad, we want you guys to be the parents."

"Are… Are you sure?"

"Of course!" Julia exclaimed.

Clare jumped up and hugged Julia, then Brady, saying, "Thank you."

Julia looked over at her dad, giving him a questioning smile. Eli smirked back, then mouthed, "Thank you." Julia's smile grew.

* * *

"Brady?" Clare whispered, smiling, as she came into the waiting room. Brady stood up, followed by Eli and LA. They had been waiting for twelve hours, but, even thought it was three in the morning, they were wide awake. Clare smile grew even bigger. "Do you want to meet your son?"

Brady's face showed fear. "Son? I have a son?"

Clare nodded, wiping a happy tear from her cheek.

Eli smiled down at Brady. "I know you're scared."

"Ha. That's an understatement."

Eli chuckled. "I was that way with Julia. Come on. Let's meet your son."

They started to head towards her room, LA running ahead. "Technically, he's your son," Brady pointed out.

"It doesn't matter who's raising him. He has your genes in him. He will always be your son." They stopped outside of the door. "Are you ready?"

He sighed, extremely nervous. "Before we go in, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for not killing me and for helping us."

"She's my daughter," Eli said. "I would do anything I could for her." His face held a small smile. "Let's go." He opened the door.

Julia sat in the bed with Clare tying her hair in a ribbon. LA tried to lean over her elbow to look at the blue bundle in her arms. "Hi," she whispered.

"Hey," he whispered back, nervously walking in. Once he got to Julia, he took a look at his son. He had his blonde hair and her nose and lips, but he was asleep, so he could see his eye color.

As if she was reading his mind, she said, "He has your eyes: ice blue."

"He's perfect."

"So what are you naming him?" Julia asked, looking at her parents.

"Us?" Eli asked. "We want you to name him."

Brady smiled. "You have your Dunstan."

"Actually, I've changed my mind," she announced, looking at her son. "Bryson Elijah Goldsworthy."

"After my brother?" She nodded. "He looks like him, too."

"You did good, sis," LA congratulated.

"Thanks, LA. Honestly, it means a lot."

"You do realize I still haven't changed my mind about killing Brady, right?"

She laughed a tiny laugh, trying to not wake up Bryson. She turned her head towards Brady. "Better watch out."

Eli looked down at his grandson. "This is typical family conversations. You'll get used to it."

"Welcome to the family."

* * *

**Failure? It pretty much was. I think it was really rushed, but I had total writers block. I don't even know where I'm going to take this.**

**I need ideas (again) for LA, because this chapter lacked him. I want to do something with LA, Calissa, and Cayden. If you can give me any ideas, that would be great. Remember, he will either be 11 or 12. I haven't decided, but I'm leaning more towards 12 to do the whole 'Julia Driving' thing and LA starting middle school (I started middle school in 7****th**** grade).**

**Review? Pretty please? **

**Thanks for Reading!**


	12. Julia Age 16 LA Age 12

**I'm back! Did you think I was dead? You probably did.**

**To be completely honest with you, I was brain-dead on where to take this. You'll probably hate me. I wouldn't blame you. **

**So I finally figured out an LA plot, thanks to one of the most dedicated reviewers EVER, Lyss! Thank you for the ideas!**

**I also added some Brulia fluff. I had to. It would just be an LA chapter if I didn't. **

**So, after a long, LONG, ****LONG****, wait, Enjoy!**

* * *

"Crap!" LA yelled, walking into the house after school. He looked down at his history test, which he failed… again. He's never gotten more than a C, and he's close to failing epically. Now he's just failing

"What's up, little bro?" Julia asked, sitting next to him on the couch as she took a sip from her water.

"I'm going to be kicked off the football team."

"Why?"

"I'm failing history… and pre-algebra… and science," he sighed.

"And English?"

"No, I'm actually pretty good at that."

Julia did a face-palm. Bryson came running over to her. She picked him up and suggested "Why don't you get a tutor? It might help."

"I guess it could work." He smiled at Julia and Bryson as she tickled his sides. It's been two years since he was born and they have been almost inseparable. He had no idea that Julia was actually his mother and the family decided not to tell him the truth, not until he's older. "You act like his mother more than his sister sometimes. It's cute…"

"Technically, I am his mother," she smirked. "So WHAT NOW?"

LA chuckled. "Wow. Okay, I'm going to do my homework." He picked up his backpack and headed for the stairs just as Brady was coming down. Brady's parents still hadn't taken him back for the pregnancy thing and he has been living with them for the past almost three years. "Try not to have too much fun without me."

"Wouldn't think about it," Brady said, smirking as he sat down next Julia and Bryson. "Hey, buddy." He poked Bryson's side, causing him to giggle.

"Brady!" he exclaimed, jumping over to him. Bryson was always attached to Brady. They shared a special bond, just like Julia.

Brady faked a groan as Bryson jumped on him. "Whoa, there! You're getting big!" Bryson laughed.

Julia smirked at them as she pulled her laptop off of the coffee table. She and Brady graduated last year, having to repeat the twelfth grade because they ran away. They didn't feel right leaving while they were still minors, so they decided to go to college online. She went back to writing her European literature paper as Brady played with Bryson.

**… … …**

LA walked into the front office of Degrassi Junior High. As much as he hated it, he needed to find a tutor. Everyone knew him in the school. It was argued that he was the most popular guy in the seventh grade, a title LA didn't want. But he accepted that it comes with the territory of being star quarterback.

"Hello, LA," the front-office lady greeted, smiling. "What can I help you with?"

Quietly, he asked, "Where's the tutor sign-up sheet?"

She handed him a clipboard and a pen. "Wanting to help?"

"Needing the help," he groaned, writing 'Adam Goldsworthy' on the paper. He handed her back to clipboard. "When will I know who's my tutor?"

She picked up a different clipboard and scanned it quickly. "Well, now. Only one person signed up to tutor." She set the board back down. "I'll contact Calissa immediately."

"C-Calissa Fitzgerald?"

"Yes."

Like magic, Calissa walked through the office door. She had on a knee-length pink dress with big white dots and a matching head band that broke her curly brown hair into two sections over her ears. "Good morning, Miss Taylor. Hey, LA."

"Calissa, we have someone for you to tutor."

"And who would that be?" she asked, still smiling.

He decided to step in. "Hey, tutor."

She spun around to him. "You? Okay! I'll see you during study hall."

"O-Okay…" he stuttered as she left. He admired her. She wasn't very popular, but she didn't care. She was always nice and didn't care about superficial thing that most of the girls in their grade cared about. He liked everything about her… except her brother and her boyfriend, Max. But other than that, she was perfect.

"Mr. Goldsworthy?" the front desk worker asked, snapping her fingers in front of his face. He shook his head, coming back to reality. "You're going to be late for class."

"What? Oh, thanks." He then walked out the door and turned to the direction that Calissa walked to. There she was, holding hands with Max Rochester, first baseman on the baseball team. They talk sometimes, but not during football season. He sighed, then walked the other way to his first class.

**… … …**

LA went to the quad for his tutor session with Calissa during study hall period. He sat down by an empty tree and waited. Hearing her voice, he turned his head to the right, seeing her walking towards him, head low, and Max walking the other direction.

The sight of her worried him. She was always smiling, head held high. But, this Calissa: she was… depressed. Her signature smile was nowhere to be found. Her bouncy stride had disappeared. The worst part: the happiness her eyes held was dulled over. "Let's get to work," she said, dimly.

He desperately wanted to ask what was wrong, but she started into pre-algebra. "To find out the value of x, you have to add the negative five to the fifteen on the other side of the equal sign. Then you divide…"

La wasn't paying attention to this. He was looking at her cheek, specifically, this one spot near her lower eyelid. The color was dark, almost purple. Without her permission, he reached up and removed the cover-up around that spot with his thumb. She winced, but didn't move as the bruise became more defined.

"Calissa, what happened?" he asked. She didn't answer, only looking down at the book. LA just looked at her, waiting for an answer, until he noticed a wet drop on the book. "Did Max hit you?" He didn't want to even finish that sentence. But who would want to hurt a caring girl like Calissa? He was pretty sure he got it wrong, but he…

She nodded.

That was the last answer he wanted to hear. Tear after tear fell onto the book and with each, LA's fist clutched tighter and tighter. "I'll kill him," he groaned.

Calissa let out a light giggle. "You don't have to… but thanks."

"Calissa, I'd do anything for you. That's what best friends are for."

Her gaze went from the book to him. "You consider me a best friend?"

He smiled. "I consider you may best friend, even before Mayson."

Calissa met his smile and embraced him. "Thanks. It means a lot. I don't have a lot of friends. It's really just you and my brother… and Max, but not for long. I hopefully can dump him."

"You can do way better than Max. He doesn't deserve you. You're pretty, talented, smart, kind, caring…"

She reached over, grabbed his hoodie sleeves, and pulled him in.

She kissed him.

He held her there for a minute, taking in the wondrous smell of cherries that was Calissa. It mixed pleasantly with his Clix AXE spray.

She gently pulled away, touching her forehead to his. She let out a shy laugh, then smiled with him… until…

"WHAT THE HELL!"

Calissa and LA looked towards the front of the school where the sound had come from. There was Cayden, red faced, staring at his twin sister and his (for reasons unknown to LA) enemy who had just kissed.

"Oh, shit," she muttered, her eyes wide. Normally, LA would have been shocked to hear such an ugly word come from her pretty mouth, but he was a little busy being thrown against the tree by Cayden.

"LA!" Calissa cried, trying to sit LA up against the tree. She threw herself in front of him before Cayden could get in a punch. "Cayden, don't."

"Calissa, let me…" he yelled before trailing off. He held her cheek in between his thumb and index finger. "Did Adam to do this to you?"

"His name is LA," she corrected, swatting his hand away. "And, for your information, Max, the guy you set me up with, did this."

"You're taking his side over your sister's, the person who has been with you your entire life, including the nine months before we were born?"

LA opened his eyes slightly, regaining his breath. He pushed through the massive headache he had to try and help Calissa, who at this point was crying again. "Cayden… just… listen to her. She's… telling the truth."

"You shut up, liar," he yelled at Calissa, and then turned to LA. "But I'm not through with you." With that, he pounced at him, pushing him into the tree further, pinning his arm in between his back and the tree. He heard something snap, not knowing whether it was the tree or his arm. He let out a cry of pain, causing Calissa to shriek. LA tried to get him off, but he only had used of his legs. After a while, he gave up fighting and blacked out from the pain.

"Cayden, STOP!" she shouted for the seventh time, crying. "You're going to kill him!"

Cayden let go and backed away, waiting for LA to get up. When he just sat against the tree, that's when Cayden realized the damage he did. "Oh, crap…" he whispered, then ran.

"Cayden!" she yelled after him, angrily, before turning towards LA. She ran over, propping his not bloody arm over her shoulder. Looking around at all the people who were watching, she yelled, crying, "HELP! Somebody, please?"

**… … …**

"_Oh, my god,"_ LA thought. _"Someone slip me the world's biggest aspirin!" _He groaned and tried to move his head, which only made things worse.

"Wake up, sleepy head," a female voice gently said, moving his curly auburn bangs from his eyes.

"Calissa?" he guessed.

Different laughs came into LA's ear drums. He groaned again. "Stop…"

"We're sorry, honey. It's Mommy. Can you open your eyes?"

"Did you just call yourself 'Mommy'?" Julia asked.

"I will call myself whatever I want to call myself when my son is in the hospital."

"Whoa, how did I get here?"

"It's a long story," Calissa said.

"Calissa?" He opened his eyes a little, letting his eyes adjust to the light. He was surprised by the amount of people they could put into one room: Eli, Clare, Julia, Brady, Bryson, and Calissa. "Ah… light."

Calissa giggled at him. "You've been out for a while now. The doctors started to think that you were about to slip into a coma."

"He has a concussion. It could have happened," Brady spoke up.

"That explain why I want an aspirin the size of my head."

Everyone was silent for a moment. They were eyeing each other, deciding on who would break the news to him.

"Can I have a moment with LA?" Calissa asked, deciding to be the new-breaker.

Everyone one walked out of the room, leaving the twelve-year-olds together. "You're out for the rest of the season. Broken wrist."

"Huh?" LA looked down at his left wrist, noticing the blank white cast plastered on. "Oh, I didn't even notice that."

Calissa giggled lightly. "That's so you. Also, I want to talk to you about what happened with us… and the kiss."

LA sighed and nodded the bets head could. As much as it killed him, he knew that it wasn't real. "I understand. That was just a rebound… comfort kiss. You don't see anything in me."

She moved her hand under his cheek and pulled him up for another kiss. "Honestly, _Adam_, I really do like you, but I just need break from dating. I'm only twelve." For the first time, he loved to be called Adam.

"Completely understood. I wouldn't want you to end up like my sister." Calissa was the only person he told about Julia's pregnancy.

"That's not nice, LA… but thank you." She kissed his cheek, then headed for the door. Before she reached the handle, she turned around. "Wait for me."

"Count on it," LA smiled.

* * *

"Late-night TV: the best," Julia commented, sitting down next to Brady on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between them. They were the only ones up.

"Yep. It's the funniest," Brady agreed. Julia leaned back against the couch, but not on Brady. He threw his arms around the back of the couch and onto her shoulder. He ate most of the popcorn, but Julia didn't touch any. Instead, she laid her hand across the top of her flat stomach. "You still do that?"

"Do what?"

"Hold your hands on your top stomach."

Julia looked down and noticed that she was doing that. "What do you mean by 'still'?"

"You starting doing that when you got your baby bump," Brady laughed, looking at her stomach. "You did it all thought-out your pregnancy."

"No, I didn't!"

Brady looked back at her eyes. "You did it without knowing. We'd be watching TV, I'd be in the kitchen, and when I would look through the kitchen window to the living room, you'd be resting your hands gently on our baby. Every time we went shopping, you would always have one hand resting on the bump. And, the cutest time, was when we were in class."

"I did it in class, too?" Julia asked, whining.

"All the time. But we were in history class and I looked over to make you were okay, because you were right at the end of your seventh month, and you were just sitting there, staring at the movie that Mr. Shaffer was playing, and had your hand resting on the top of your belly. That's not what made it the cutest. The cutest part was when I noticed that you were slowly moving your thumbs in circles. Needless to say, I fail that pop quiz on the movie."

"You were watching me? I feel stalked," Julia joked. "But why would you want to watch me? I was so fat."

Brady smirk fell. "Julia, I hate when you say that. You weren't fat. You were pregnant. There's a difference. And, honestly, you were adorable with child. I don't even understand how I passed the first quarter of school with you in all of my classes."

She smiled, scoffed, and slapped him playfully. "Shut up, Brady."

"I'm just telling you to truth," Brady defended himself. Julia then laid her head on his shoulder and finished watching the show.

Clare sighed at the mid-way point of the steps. She had come down to get some water, but stopped to hear their conversation. _"I guess I wasn't the only one that noticed,"_ she thought smiling.

"You did that, too," Eli whispered into her ear.

She jumped, not expecting to hear him. "I know I did. It register that I was doing that when I was pregnant with LA. It's a pregnant thing."

"Obviously," Eli smirked. "I don't think I've ever heard Brady say 'cute' that much in one explanation."

Clare tried not to laugh. "Oh, Elijah, me neither." She turned around to face him. "What are we going to do with them?"

"What we've been doing with them," he answered, turning her around to face their daughter and Brady. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her right shoulder. "We wait."

* * *

**Honestly, I hate that this chapter seems rushed. Do you think it was rushed? **

**Again, I want to apologize for the LONG wait. I was out of ideas until recently.**

**Thanks for Reading! Review please!**


	13. Julia Age 17 LA Age 13 Part 1

**So this chapter was taking my forever to write, so I'm breaking it into two parts. Okay?**

**I've adding in a lot of 'drama' into this chapter! Prepare to laugh, maybe cry, and be suprised!**

**PS: I said Brookie goes to the University of Michigan. If you're wondering, I love Michigan. I moved to where I am now from Michigan and I lived there for 12 years, so I had to add it in. Just a tidbit of info of me and for the story!**

**So enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

"Okay, just back out slowly," Eli warned, gripping to his seat belt for dear life.

"Dad, I got my license last year. I know how to drive a car," Julia scoffed, looking backwards to back up Morty.

"You may know how to drive a car, but you don't know how to drive Morty." He reached up and petted the dashboard. "He's delicate, fragile."

"And I'm not?" she asked, driving down the street.

Still staring at the dashboard, he waved his hand at her and said, "You can be replaced. Morty cannot."

"What?" Julia shrieked, turning her attention to Eli and still driving.

"Eyes on the road. Eyes on the road!" He yelled, looking back up. Julia jerked the wheel, barely missing a parked truck. "I was kidding, kiddo!" he laughed. "You didn't need to kill me!"

"Well, sorry if I over-react to being called less important than a car!"

"I'm sorry, Jules," he apologized.

"Good," she smirked, then put Morty in park, "because you're buying my ice cream."

Eli looked around, not even noticing that they were in the parking lot across the street from the local ice cream shop. He turned his head back to his smirking daughter. "You get that evil scheming from me!"

"I know," she sang, jumping out of Morty and to the edge of the street. Eli just stared at his daughter for a minute, wondering when she started being able to out-smart him.

**... ... ...**

"Nice work, Mabbitt," Eli congratulated, taking the keys from Julia.

"Thanks, Dad, but I prefer Lancaster now," Julia smirked, closing the door. "But it does feel good to be called by an old nickname."

"Well, you did swear that you were going to marry Craig one day," he reminded.

"I was younger than eight years old! Let it go!" Julia begged. "But he is still pretty cute…"

"I don't want to hear it," he said, putting his hands over his ears. "Hey, Clare," he greeted his wife as they came into the kitchen. He kissed her cheek. "What's wrong?"

Clare's worried expression left the ground over to Julia. "Be careful around Brady. He might want to talk to you. Lord knows, he didn't want to talk to me."

Julia looked from her father to her mother before sprinting to the room she shared with Brady.

"What happened?"

Clare sighed. "We just got a call from Brady's grandparents. His parents were in a car accident."

"Well, are they okay?"

Tears started to collect on her cheek. She shook her head. "They both suffered major head injuries. His dad's gone. The doctors said that his mom's not going to make it through the night, no matter how much they try."

"So he's… an orphan?"

"Eli, he's eighteen, legally an adult," Clare pointed out. "But here's the thing."

"You said that awkwardly. What's up?"

"You see, his grandparents kind of want him to… go to the states to… live with them," she said. "Just until his music career takes off." Brady was in the process of getting a record deal. "They said he needs family at a time like this."

"Family? Family?" Eli went off. "The same family that kicked him out for getting our daughter pregnant?"

"Another thing: only his parents know about their baby. The rest of the family thinks that he was kicked out for running away with her."

"So they don't even know the truth?" By now, Eli was furious.

"No. And here's the best part: his grandparent told his parents to kick him out. They didn't want to."

Eli stared back at Clare. "If they kick him out for running away, imagine what they would do if they found out he has a son."

"Well, technically, Eli, he doesn't."

"Bryson has Brady's DNA in him. He's the biological father." He took a deep breath to calm down and turned away. "Is there a law that says he has to, being an adult and all?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but… they live near the US record company who wants him. He just might do it." She turned her head to meet Eli's eyes. "And I'm not going to stop him."

"Not going to…?"

"If he's going for his dreams and not what his grandparents want him to do," she quickly added.

Eli sighed, sliding down the oven with Clare following close by. "I remember when they sang "Broken" by Seether featuring Amy Lee. I knew that boy would be great… and he has his chance."

"But he won't go if Julia doesn't want him to."

"She's better realize that this is her future. I plan on him marrying her."

Clare smiled. "I've been planning their wedding since she was eight."

"A little optimistic, weren't we?" he teased.

"Shut up…"

**… … …**

"Brady?" Julia whispered through the crack of the door before entering. "Is everything okay?"

Brady quickly took his hoodie sleeve from his cheeks and turned towards Julia. "Everything fine," he said, his voice cracking a little.

"Are you sure?" Julia slowly made her way over to the bed and sat down next to Brady. She started to rub circles on his back. "You can tell me."

Brady couldn't look at her. His mind wouldn't let him. As a tear fell into his lap, he said, "I'm leaving… tomorrow."

Julia took her hand from his back. "Where?"

"Florida. Back home. My grandparents want to come," he explained, "and the record company has a building down there."

"So when do we leave?"

Brady look at Julia, his cheeks stained with tears. "I'm sorry, but… you're not coming."

"What?" Her eyes went wide in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Julia, but… I can't tear you from your family. You have to stay here."

"What about your family here? Your mom and dad…"

"My mom and dad are dead!" Brady yelled, then looked down at his lap. "That's why my grandparents want me to come live with them."

"Oh, my god, Brady. I'm so sorry." She pulled him close to her and wrapped her arms around him. "But you're eighteen. Can they do that?"

"I would go anyway." He pulled away and looked her in the eyes. "This record deal could be our future, Julia, and I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize _your_ future. I love you too much. You have to let me do this."

Julia soon felt her eyes start to tear up. She sniffled, then smiled, trying to be happy. "When are you going to get back?"

Brady smiled. "I honestly don't know, but trust me. I won't be long. They already love me here."

Julia giggled a little, then pulled him in for a kiss. "Of course. Just don't fall in love with beach models down there."

"Julia, when am I ever going to be a beach?" he smirked, mention his extremely pale complexion.

"You never know. You never know about girls these days," she smirked back.

"Yeah, but no girl is like you."

They kissed and kissed and kissed. Then they laid down and shared one last night together.

**… ... ...**

It's been a month since Brady left for Florida. Julia was acting depressed, but today was different. Brookie was coming back. She was on summer break from the University of Michigan and coming home. She couldn't wait to see her.

"Hello?" a girly voice called through the house.

"Brookie!" Julia yelled, running to the front door. Brookie shrieked and they hugged. "Oh, my god! You look so different from last year!"

Brookie spun around in her pink, strapless, short, beach dress. Her skin was tanned and her hair had gotten blonder and longer, down to her middle back. "I know! Gotta look my best for those college guys."

Julia laughed. "Same old Brookie. You've changed and I look the same." She gestured to her Black Veil Brides midriff shirt and black short shorts.

"Yeah, but you pull it off." They walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "So where's the rest of the family?"

"You know LA: sports superstar. They're at his baseball game. Bryson loves watching him play."

"How is your little bundle of joy?"

"Still not legally mine," Julia reminded, smiling. "Only biologically. But it was for the best. My parents love him like he was their own. He's defiantly growing up to be like LA… but with Brady's music choices."

"Naturally," Brookie laughed. "So how's it been without him?"

Julia sighed. "Kind of hard, but I know he's doing this for us. He's already writing songs for his album."

"That's great!"

"But here's the thing," she started, then trailed off awkwardly.

"Oh, crap," Brookie groaned. "What did you do?"

"Ovulated," she answered, dead serious.

Brookie's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

Julia looked at her straight in the eye, no emotion on her face. "I'm pregnant."

Brookie groaned even louder, falling on her back on the couch. "Julia, no! Why? You told me you were going to wait until you were older, in your twenties. Brady isn't even here. He's needs to be here to help you. Does he even know?"

"No, he doesn't. We, to put it bluntly, had sex the night before he left. I want to tell him in person, not over the phone. That's why I haven't told him… You're the only one that knows."

"Not even your parents?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I wanted to tell Brady first."

Brookie stood up immediately, grabbed Julia's hand, and dragged her up. "Come on, preggo."

"Where are we going?"

"To pack." Julia followed Brookie into her room, who was going through her closet. "Wait! Can pregnant ladies fly on a plane?"

"It's not recommended, but if she's not in her third trimester…"

"Good. You've got a plane to Florida to get on."

**… … …**

Brady gripped onto the flower he was holding. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the gates to the cemetery. A shiver went down his spine. He always got a chill when he came here.

He stopped by three plots: Bryan Lancaster, Bailey Lancaster, and Bryson Lancaster.

He knelt down by his brother's and placed the flower in front. He brushed his hand over his mom's gravestone. "Mom and Dad will be here soon." He sighed, then placed his hand on his knee. "I know it's been a while since I've been here, when I was twelve… I have so much I have to tell you." He went on to tell everything, from Julia's baby with him to his record deal. He spent a good hour and a half sitting there, telling about the last six years.

He laughed to himself. "I think you would like Bryson. He's such a sweet kid. And Julia: you would have loved Julia since the minute you met her… I know I did." He wiped a tear from his cheek with his sleeve, smiling. "I miss you so much. I really wish you were here. Say hi to Mom and Dad for me… and tell them I'm sorry and that I love them." He wiped his cheek again before turning around.

"That was beautiful," a voice said behind him. It was dark, so he could only see the silhouette of the person who said that. Her curly hair waved in the wind and she had on a dress and an open zip-up jacket. But he would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Julia." He stood up and ran over to her, embracing her in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

Julia giggled. "Let's just say: when Brookie's determined, nothing stands in her way. She packed all of my clothes and got a plane ticket here all in 15 minutes."

"And your parents were cool with it?"

She blushed, looking at her shoes. "Well… Brookie pushed me out the door, so all I could say was 'I'm going to Florida! Be back in tomorrow."

"So you're only here for a day."

"My flight leaves at 4:00 tomorrow. But that's all the time I need to tell you."

"Yeah, I have to do something, too." He took her hand and led her to the gravestone. "Bryson, this is Julia. She's the only one who wouldn't think that me talking to a dead person is weird."

Julia laughed a little.

Brady returned his attention to Bryson's plot. "Remember when I promised you that you would be the first to know that I'm getting married." He gripped Julia's hand tighter. "I'm not about to break that promise."

He knelt down in front of Julia, took both of her hands, and looked up into her green eyes. "Julia Carolyn Goldsworthy, I love you, ever since the first time I laid my eyes on you and we bonded over Black Veil Brides. I've never met a girl who liked, no, appreciated everything I love. You're the only girl I've ever been in love with. I can't imagine my life without you. Surly, I would have gone crazy by now. I know I'm rambling, but you need to know this. I love you more than life itself and I would do anything for you. If there was one thing in this world that I could change, as cheesy as it sounds, it would be your last name."

Julia's eyes filled with tears as she quietly laughed at him.

"I don't have ring. I wasn't planning on this right now, but I knew that before I left here, I would bring you down here and ask you. Julia, will you marry me?"

Julia laughed, putting her face in her hands and looking at the ground. "You know, I've never cried this much with anyone. I cried less when I was a baby."

Brady laughed at her, then fixed his bangs, which is his non-verbal way of saying, "And your answer is…?" or "My hair is not cooperating!"

Julia took her hands away from her face, revealing a smile, a true smile, not her smirk. "Of course," she whispered. "I would love to marry you. Yes!"

Brady picked her up and spun her around.

"Brady, Brady, you might not want to do that."

Her set her down, then kissed her. "I know you don't like to spun around. I'm sorry, but I'm just very excited."

"Well…" A blush formed on her face. "That… and I got some 'splaining to do."

Brady smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You just quoted a 1950's sitcom. You defiantly got some 'splaining to do."

"Well, then, Brady Lancaster, come on down! You're the next contestant on I'm Gonna Die!"

"And why is that?"

"My dad and brother are probably going to kill you."

He groaned. "The last time the men in your family tried to kill me was when they found out that you…" His smile fell. His eyes went wide, "were… pregnant." His eyes moved back a forth from her face to her stomach and back. "Julia… a-are you… pregnant?"

Julia shrugged, gave an unsure smile, and raised her hands. "Surprise…"

His breathing became quicker, panicky. "Okay, okay, hold it together, Lancaster. Hold. It. Together."

"Are… Are you upset?" Julia asked, placing her hand on his back.

"No… No, I'm not upset, Julia," he answered, looking into her eyes. "Just surprised, shocked. That's all."

"You seemed upset."

"I promise you that I'm not," he assured with all of the sincerity he could muster. "How do you feel about it?"

"Honestly, I don't know what to feel," she answered, reaching her hand up to her stomach. "I want to keep this child, but… I wanted to keep Bryson, too. I'm just afraid that we'll change our minds."

Brady embraced her, then held her by her shoulders, making her look at him. "If you want to keep our kid, I'm with you, all the way." Julia smiled as he wiped a tear the fell onto her cheek. "And I get to see you do that cute 'hand on your stomach' thing again."

"Ha Ha, Mr. Lancaster," Julia joked as Brady helped her up. "I hoped it's a girl. Oliviera is growing on me." Brady laughed a little until Julia's cell phone rang. "Oh crap." She hesitantly answered it. "Hey, Mommy…"

"JULIA CAROLYN GOLDWORTHY, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Clare yelled through the phone. Julia had to move the phone away from her ear. She put it on speaker phone.

"Hey, Mrs. Goldsworthy," Brady greeted.

"Oh, you, Brady, don't even talk to me. I found the pregnancy test. You two are in such big trouble! Your father and I are on the way there right now!"

"Now?" Julia shrieked. "W-W-What about LA?"

"He's staying with Uncle Adam and Aunt Fi, but you don't worry about him right now!"

"I'm kicking your ass, Brady!" Eli yelled in the background.

"Oh, crap, he means it," Julia said.

"Do I need to repeat that?"

"N-No, Ma'am," Brady answered, his voice shaking.

"Okay, we're at the airport. We'll see you in about three hours." And with that Clare hung up.

Julia and Brady stood there and starred at the phone for about a minute. Neither of them spoke. "Oh, we're screwed," Julia laughed.

**… … …**

"I have a question," Brady's grandmother asked. "What were you thinking?"

Eli and Clare arrived at his grandparents' house before Brady and Julia did (Brady took her to Disney World to meet Pluto. She's always wanted to meet Pluto). So they were all sitting

"You guys are WAY too young to be having kids," his grandfather sighed. "What were you thinking?"

"That we would see each other in a long time?" Julia shrugged.

Brady added, '"But it's not like we haven't been through this before."

Clare and Eli's eyes widen and their gaze turned from Brady to his grandparents.

"What?"

"Isn't that what Mom and Dad told you? They kicked me out because we had a kid," Brady explained.

His grandmother eyes were narrowed at her grandson. "We were told you were kicked out because you ran away with her, NOT BECAUSE SHE GOT KNOCKED UP!"

"They lied to you?"

"Not just us," his grandfather answered. "That's what they told the whole family.

Brady slammed his fists on the table. "Are you kidding me?" he yelled. "They were that ashamed of me? They were teen parents, too! They had Bryson at 18!"

"I was 18 when I had Julia; Eli was 19," Clare butted in. "But here's the difference: we were married before Julia was conceived and so was Bryson. You guys weren't married or engaged then and you were only 14 and 15..."

"15?" his grandparents yelled.

"But it still was a little harsh," Eli commented.

"I know. And you guys aren't married now or engaged..."

Julia blushed, playing with her thumbs. "About that..." She awkwardly chuckled.

"Julia, he..."

She bit her lip and nodded. "He proposed about four hours ago... and I said yes." She smiled directly at her dad. "We're getting married."

Clare starred at both of them, mouth open. "Are you serious?"

"Yep," Brady sighed, grabbing Julia's hand. "I proposed at my brother's grave. I kept my promise; He was the first to know. I knew that she would be the one not disturbed by it. I spilled my heart out, asked her to marry me, she said yes, tells me that her dad and brother would kill me, and I put the pieces together. She then told me that she was pregnant."

"Wow. Not what I was expecting now," Eli commented. "I knew it was going to happen, but..."

"Deep breath, Dad," Julia laughed, patting his back.

"So," His grandmother pointed to Julia. "You're pregnant and you guys are getting married." She sighed, then placed her head in her hands. "Are you getting married before or after the baby?"

"You're actually going to let us go through with this?" Brady asked.

"Why wouldn't they?" Julia whispered into Brady's ear.

"They're strict when it comes to me," he explained. Julia nodded.

"Well?" Clare asked.

"I was thinking that maybe we could get married before I start showing a lot," Julia answered. "I mean it took me five months until it was easy to recognize that I was pregnant. That should be enough time to plan a wedding."

Each eye then turned to Brady. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'm with her."

"Okay, shotgun wedding time," his grandfather said, clapping his hands.

Julia lowered her bottom lip at Brady. "Well, that doesn't make me feel like a slut."

Brady tried not to laugh, playing with his lip ring. "Not going to answer that."

Julia smirked, then scoffed. "You think I'm a slut!"

Brady raised his hands defensively. "I never said that."

Julia pulled slightly on his lip ring. "Shut up, Lancaster."

**… … …**

"Don't worry. I'm coming back in two weeks," Brady comforted, holding Julia's hands at the airport. "We just have to finalize the contract then I can record back in Toronto." He kissed her forehead. "Then we can plan our wedding."

Julia smiled up at Brady, seeing that she only came up to his chin. "Okay, Lancaster," she sighed, smirking.

"Good, soon-to-be Lancaster," he smirked back. "Take care of our little one." He patted her stomach.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Julia blew him off. They kissed as the announced her flight was boarding. "I've got to go."

"I heard," Brady joked. "Have a safe flight. Love you."

Julia turned around in the tunnel to the plane. "Love you, too," she smiled.

* * *

"Thank you… I'll see you at nine AM… Yes… Yes… Thank you… Bye." Julia hung up her cell phone and had to restrain herself from slamming it down on the kitchen counter. "Stupid last minute details. It's so much stress."

"You shouldn't be stressing," Brady advised, leading her to the table chair. He made her sit down. "It's not good for Baby Lancaster." Just about everything he had Julia do since he got home from Orlando was for their baby. He wanted both Julia and the baby to be healthy.

"But I can't just sit down, Brady. The wedding is in two days. I still need to make sure I still fit into my dress."

Brady sighed, smiling. "Julia, you've only gained three pounds. You're five months pregnant. That's not good."

"I know, but… I'm wearing my mom's wedding dress and… I need to be able to fit into it…"

"You will. Trust me." He embraced her in a hug. "Now, is there anything you want on your break?"

Julia groaned out of frustration. "I guess… some superman ice cream would be good…"

He raised one eyebrow. "Just superman ice cream?"

She blushed. "… And some lemonade mix on top?"

"Julia?"

"And… peanut butter?"

"There we go," Brady laughed, reaching for the jar of peanut butter on the counter. "That's cravings of the pregnant Julia I know."

She laughed before looking through the baby clothes catalog she got yesterday. Brady reached over to hand her the bowl. "One bowl of pregnancy goodness, right here."

"Thank you," she said, taking the spoon from Brady's hand and scarfing the concoction into her mouth.

"Slow down, speedy. You don't want to choke," he warned, moving the catalog in front of him. "This is cute." He pointed to a pink and black striped dress.

"I was looking at that."

"What if we have a boy again?"

"Well, then, his name will be Oliver and he will be dressed in drag," she answered, dead serious.

"Wow…" he dragged out, closing the book. "Okay then."

"I'm joking."

He was silent for a moment, then said, "Oh!"

"You couldn't tell, could you?"

"No."

"Figured."

"You don't know what you're having, but yet but you're both confident you're having a girl?" LA butted in, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Brady pointed from LA to the entrance. "How… Where… Did you…?"

"Dude, its LA. He's sneaky." She turned her brother. "And yes, we do. We're just that cocky."

LA tried not to laugh, but a snicker was let out. Julia looked at him weirdly, then figured out what he was laughing at. Her face held a disgusted look.

"You pervert!" she yelled, throwing the catalog. "You're such a thirteen year old!"

"Whoa!" he shouted as the book flew past his ear when he ducked and into the living room. "I'm sorry! That was funny! But be careful. You're going to bruise this body." He maneuvered his hand over his torso. "I've got to keep this machine working well for hockey season… and football… and baseball… oh, and soccer… and I can't forget basketball…"

"Is there anything you don't do?" Brady asked.

"Cheerleading," LA quickly answered.

"Gymnastics," Julia contributed.

"Swimming."

"Ice skating."

"Golf. I don't have to patience for golf."

"Tennis."

"Not true. I did play tennis."

"Okay, I get it!" Brady whined, laughing.

"Glad you see my point," LA grinned, reaching over for the spoon in Julia's bowl.

"I wouldn't…" Brady started, only to have Julia grab his knee and smirk at him.

"Things would go a lot smoother if people saw things my way." Without looking, he grabbed a huge bite of ice cream and scoped it into his mouth. His eyes went wide. The spoon dropped to the table and LA froze, holding in the ice cream. He finally was able to move and ran to the sink, throwing up the contents of his mouth. "Oh, my God!" he shouted. "What are you eating?"

Julia smirked. "Oh, you know, the usual: superman ice cream, lemonade powder, and peanut butter."

LA's eyes widen even more. He leaned over, clutching his stomach. "I really hate you right now," he managed to say before running upstairs to puke again.

"Love you, too, little bro!" Julia called up. "And Oliviera, too!"

* * *

**Part 1 is complete! Part two will include the wedding and the birth of their kid (Boy or girl? I've already decided, but leave what you think they're going to have in the review), along with a few other things I come up with along the way! This severly lacks Eli and Clare; I'm sorry, but there will be a lot more in the next chapter. I promise!**

**Don't forget to check out my Escape The Fate EClare fanfics (Shameless self-promotion! Haha!)**

**Thanks for Reading and I look forward to your reviews!**


	14. Julia Age 17 LA Age 13 Part 2

**I'm back with part 2! Just before I go to my grandparents! Yay!**

**I found the perfect dress for Julia. Go to my profile to see it! I'll put it on top of the example clothes.**

**Also I new character is coming! I don't know how long her plot's going to be, but you need to know how to pronouce her name. I'm sorry if this sounds uptight, but with this name, it irritates me when people pronouce it wrong. It's Kari, not Keri, like an adjective for a car. Car-y. And there's something interesting about her. Let's see who can find it.**

**So enjoy!**

* * *

"You look so beautiful," Clare cried, fixing her daughter's hair in the mirror.

Julia tugged at the stomach of her wedding dress. "Thanks, Mom, but you can totally tell I'm pregnant."

"You're just being paranoid," Brookie comforted. "You look great."

"Thanks." She stopped pulling at the dress and turned towards her mother, Fiona, Alli, and Jenna. "Am I supposed to feel this nervous?"

"Oh, yeah," Fiona laughed.

"That's the good stuff," Jenna commented, smiling. She stood up and hugged Julia, followed by Fiona. "You be fine. Just try to remember that this is one of the greatest days of your life."

"And that you love Brady," Alli added, holding Melina's hand. Melina was the flower girl and, as any seven-year-old would, she was excited to do her part. "You shouldn't be afraid of the guy you love."

Julia sighed, smiling. "Thanks for the pep talk. I needed it."

Brookie hugged Julia. "Just relax. Everything will be great."

"Thanks, Brookie," Julia whispered, before she followed her mom and Fiona.

Clare looked at her daughter with a tear in her eye. "You've grown up so fast. It feels like just yesterday you were my little girl who had her dad wrapped around her finger, an obsession with Craig Mabbitt and was going to marry him. Now you're still my little girl who has her dad wrapped around her finger, and obsession with Craig Mabbitt, but is going to marry her best friend."

Julia giggled a little. "Mom, don't cry. You're going to make me cry."

"I'm trying not to, but this is such a happy moment for me. My baby girl is grown-up and getting married. You'll understand with your little one."

"I bet so," she smiled. She checked the wall clock. "We better get going. Wouldn't want to be late for my wedding."

They walked out of the guest room at Adam and Fiona's estate house where the wedding was being held to the main hall, where Brookie, LA, Melina, Bryson, and Eli were waiting. A collective gasp was let out, followed by praise. Nervous, Julia started to twirl one of her black curls and groaned.

"Jules, you look beautiful," Eli complimented, taking her hand to help her down the rest of the stairs.

"Thanks, Daddy," she cried. "Why am I crying?"

"You're happy, Hun," Brookie answered, hugging her lightly to not mess up her hair.

"I'd put my money on the pregnancy hormones," LA mumbled, slightly smiling at his sister.

Julia smirked at him. "You little brat," she joked, before embracing him in a hug.

"You look really pretty," LA whispered.

"I won't tell anyone you said that," she whispered back before letting him go.

"Thanks," he mouthed, smiling.

Julia smiled, turning to the rest of the people. "Let's have ourselves a wedding, shall we?"

**… … …**

"Julia, will you take Brady to be your husband, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish his friendship and love him today, tomorrow and forever? Will you trust and honor him, laugh with him and cry with him? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?" Fiona's brother, Declan, said, looking at Julia for her answer. He's legally certified to marry a couple, so Fiona asked him to do the wedding.

Julia sniffled. "I do."

"Do you ever get the feeling you're really old?" Eli leaned over and whispered into Clare's ear.

"And you say that why?" Clare asked back.

"Well, we're watching our seventeen-year-old daughter get married and I'm only 36."

"I'm 35. Your point?"

"Well, you're parents were 47 when we got married, making them 29 when you were born. You were six when they were your age."

"And that's supposed to make me feel old?"

Eli sighed. "It's just me, then."

Clare smiled at her husband before both of their attentions went back to their daughter. "She could have gone for a longer dress, though."

"That would have been traditional," Eli pointed out. "When have they ever been traditional?"

"There's your point."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," Declan exclaimed. "You may kiss the bride."

Brady leaned down and gave her a sweet, little kiss.

"What kind of kiss was that?" Julia complained, a smirk appearing on her lips. She threw her arms around his neck, pulling him down towards her, and passionately kissed him as the cheer went into applause.

"I now present Mr. and Mrs. Brady Lancaster!"

"And Oliveria," Julia whispered, putting a bigger smile on Brady's face.

"What?" Declan asked.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all…"

**… … …**

"Brady doesn't have many friends," LA started his best man speech.

Brady let out a groan and laid his head on the table.

"He has a point," Julia admitted, patting Brady on the back.

"Hear me out!" LA defended himself. "Brady's not one for people, but if he decides you're okay, then he will have your back until the end. It's a great pleasure to call him my friend, but an even greater pleasure to call him my brother-in-law." He raised his tiny glass of wine. "Don't screw this up!"

"Okay, who got the thirteen-year-old drunk?" Eli yelled humorously. The reception let out a small laugh.

"If he is, he's not as bad as Adam was," Clare whispered as Brookie began her speech.

"Oh, how could I forget?" Eli smirked. "That was funny."

"And the drunk tradition carries on," she joked. "But I'm seriously going to check if he is."

"Mommy," Bryson whispered, tugging on her dress. "I gotta go potty!"

Clare sighed, smiling, "Duty calls." She picked up Bryson.

"Literally."

She walked towards the bathroom. Eli turned back towards Brookie, who was cry and hugging Julia. They pulled apart and Julia was crying, too. Both were smiling.

"Okay, people, the time has arrived for the newlyweds to have their first dance," the DJ announced. Julia blushed as Brady took her hand and led her to the center of the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He put his hands on her hips as 'Broken' by Seether featuring Amy Lee came on.

"Well, this brings back memories," Julia smiled, swaying to the music.

"Of course. That's why we picked it out," Brady reminded.

"Good point." They kissed. "So have you thought of any names?"

"Well… kind of."

"Kind of?"

"I was thinking about… guys names, just in case we have a boy."

"What are they?"

He took a pause, inhaled deeply, then answered, "Oliver, Vladimir, Zane, and Alexandria."

She raised an eyebrow. "Alexandria? That sounds like a girl name. I thought we were committed to Oliveria."

"We are!" he assured her. "It's just… a suggestion for a… middle name?"

She smirked. "Sounds cute. Good job, Br…" She stopped and dropped one hand to her stomach.

"Julia, what's wrong?"

"O-Oliveria," she stammered. "I… I had this feeling with Bryson. I think I'm in labor."

His eyes widened. "W-W-What? You're only five months along! It can't be!"

The music cut. "What's wrong?" Eli asked.

"I'm in labor."

"Oh…" Eli whispered. "That can't be good. We got to go. LA! Brookie!"

"What?" they asked.

"LA, come with us. Brookie, tell everyone we have to post-pone the reception. Let's move!"

Brady and LA helped Julia into the house with Eli trailing behind. Clare was coming out of the restroom, holding Bryson. The expression on her face changed from normal to frightened. "What's going on?"

Eli grabbed her free hand. "The baby. Let's go."

**… … …**

Brady slammed his fist against the wall of the waiting room. "What's going on?"

"Calm down," Clare instructed, patting his back. "It's going to be fine."

"Fine? Mrs. Goldsworthy, she's only at twenty weeks. It's not fine. It could be a miscarriage. I already love that baby. I would be devastated, not to mention how this would upset Julia." By this time, he was on the verge of crying.

She hugged him. "I'm worried, too. We're all worried. We just have to hope for the best."

"Okay, what's going on?" A demanding voice asked behind them. Clare turned around to see her parents and Eli's parents.

"Aw, crap," Eli groaned, getting up from his seat.

"Baby boy, what's wrong?" CeCe asked.

"I thought you were going to let Julia tell them," LA pointed out, lying down on the chairs with a major headache.

"Tell us what?"

"Julia's pregnant! Okay!" Brady blurted out. "And we've probably lost the baby, so we don't need any crap about being teen parents again!"

All of their eyes widened. "Okay, where's Bryson?" Randall asked.

"Sleeping," Eli answered, pointing to a sleeping Bryson in a waiting room chair.

"Good. I thought you spilled the secret in your rage," Randall said.

"Now we need an explanation," Helen demanded.

"What's there to explain?" Brady exclaimed. "We had sex, she got pregnant, and now our baby is dead." He slumped down in a chair and buried his face in his hands.

"He was never an optimistic person," LA groaned. "Or a quiet one…"

"Okay, Julia went into labor at the reception," Clare explained.

"So why would the baby be dead?"

"She only twenty weeks along." Bullfrog looked confused. Eli sighed, adding, "That's five months, Dad."

He gasped. "Oh! Okay, yeah, that's not good."

"Is there anyone here for Julia Goldsworthy?" The doctor asked, walking into the waiting room.

"Please. Julia Lancaster. She just got married."

"I'm sorry. I'm guessing that would be you guys."

"Yes. What's going on with my daughter?" Clare reached for Eli's hand, squeezing it.

"They're fine, her and the baby. She was under a lot of stress, which caused premature labor. We gave her some medicine to stop it, but, just be sure, we would like keep her overnight."

Brady slowly stood up. "Y-You mean, the baby's not dead."

"No, you're baby is very much live. I'm guessing you're the father."

"Uh-huh," he answered, smiling.

"Do you want to know the sex?"

He shook his head. "No. Julia doesn't want to know and I would end up spilling it."

"That's okay. Congratulations by the way. She can check out tomorrow at five, but I recommend putting her on bed rest."

"Um, Doctor, may I stay with my wife?" He turned towards her family. "You don't realize how long I've waited to say that."

"I don't see why not," he answered, coming with me.

Clare hugged Brady. "Take good care of her."

"Better than myself," he answered, smiling, before following that doctor.

Eli walked over and picked up Bryson. "Okay, little buddy, let's get you home."

They all walked towards the elevator. "She's going to be okay, right?" LA asked.

"Of course. This is Julia we're talking about," Clare answered. When LA turned away, she looked up at Eli. "Right?"

Eli smirked and kissed her cheek. "You answered yourself. She'll be fine."

**… … …**

"Brady, is there anything you want to say?" Julia asked. She had her arms crossed and was glaring.

"I'm sorry for over-reacting yesterday. I was afraid, but my actions were completely out of line," he admitted, looking down at his shuffling feet.

"Good boy," she smiling. She ruffled his hair.

"All is forgiven," Eli smirked, stopping at the red light. They were on the way home from the hospital.

"Julia, when we get home, I want you to go straight to your room," Clare demanded.

"But Brady and I were going to start finding an apartment," Julia insisted.

"Julia," Clare turned around in her seat. She wore an angry look on her face. "You went into premature labor because of stress. You are on bed rest. Understand?"

Julia lowered her head. She rubbed her baby bump. "Yes, ma'am."

Clare smiled. "Good." She turned back around as her phone rang. "Hello?"

"Mommy, when are you coming home?"

"Bryson, how did you get your brother's phone?"

"I'm not Bryson!" LA cried.

"LA, what's going on?"

"This kid's going to be the death of me!" A crash sound came through the phone. "BRYSON! GET OUT OF MY ROOM… AND YOU'RE NOT HERE! Aw, my football trophy…"

"What's he doing?"

"I can't find him! He's running around the house. I hear crashes. Things are being broken. And he is nowhere to be found," he cried. "I'm going crazy. I'm never having kids."

"Well, thank god," Clare muttered.

"You want me to be crazy?"

"I meant the kids part," she explained. "We'll be home in five minutes. Just try your best."

LA whimpered, then hung up.

"We have to get home before the three-year-old burns down the house."

* * *

LA walked into the kitchen where Clare and Julia were having lunch. Eli, Bryson, and Brady were out looking for apartments. "Can I ask you guys something?"

"Okay, I knew this would come," Julia groaned, then cracked her knuckles. "Division is quite simple."

He scoffed. "I know how to divide, thank you."

Julia glared. "121 divided by 11?"

LA's eye widened. He murmured numbers to himself, before yelling, "That's beside the point!"

She smirked. "11."

"Anyway, you know Kari, right? Head cheerleader, has those awesome parties?"

"Long, curly, blonde hair?" Clare asked.

"She's around my height."

"Yeah, I remember her."

"Well, anyway…" Adam blushed. "She kind of… asked me out on a date…"

"And…" Clare asked, folding her arms.

"I was wondering if I, uh, could… go?" He asked, and then quickly added, "Her parents are chaperoning!"

"Oh, here comes the good part," Julia squealed, taking a handful of popcorn.

"I don't see why not," Clare answered.

Julia spat her popcorn all over the kitchen floor. "What?" she exclaimed.

"I trust him and her parents are going to be there. She's a nice girl."

"Unbelievable. You didn't let me go out with Brady without you guys!"

"And we have evidence of how you are without us," she pointed out.

"A girl gets pregnant at thirteen ONE TIME and she never hears the end of it!"

"And eight months along now at seventeen," he added.

"Also, he's announced that he doesn't want kids. He knows what sex leads to."

"I'm right here," LA reminded them.

"You can go on your date with Kari," Clare said. "When is it?"

"Tonight," LA whispered. "I have to go get a shower, find that one blue plaid button up shirt. Oh, My God!" He ran up the stairs.

"That's so cute," Clare sighed.

"He likes someone else, too," Julia added, tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth and flipped through a magazine.

"What do you mean?"

"He would have added 'brush my teeth' if it were Calissa."

**… … …**

"So having fun?" Kari asked.

"I guess," LA answered, popping a fry in his mouth. They were at a restaurant in town. LA was happy Kari didn't pick out a very fancy restaurant. He would be screwed if they didn't chicken and French fires. He looked up from his plate across the restaurant. Kari's dad quickly turned his head from LA to his wife. "Your dad was just staring at me."

Kari gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry. I'm his only child. He's very protective."

"I understand. I have a sister. My dad's the same, along with her husband," LA smiled back.

"You're sister's married?"

"Yep. Three months ago. She married her elementary school sweetheart. I was the best man."

"I bet you looked good in the tux," she flirted.

"I was too drunk to remember," he mumbled. She gave a worried look. "Some idiot spiked whatever I was drinking. Let's just say: I made a **really** bad best man speech."

She laughed.

"Yeah, sure. It's funny now," he smiled. "And they're having a baby."

"Aw! Cute! Boy or girl?" she asked.

"They don't know. They want it to be a surprise, but they think it's going to be a girl. They're going to name her Oliveria Alexandria."

"That's a pretty long name," she commented.

"Tell me about it. Way harder than mine."

"What is your name, anyway?"

LA has never told anyone besides Calissa what his real name is. Calissa, Cayden, the teachers, and himself are the only ones that know. "Okay, you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"It can't that bad."

"It's not that bad, actually. It's just that I was named after my god father and I've been called LA my whole life. I don't respond to my real name."

"Which would be…?"

"Adam. Adam Skylar Goldsworthy. I'm called LA because I'm 'Little Adam'."

"Adam. I love the name Adam."

He smiled at her, then looked out the window across the street to the outdoor ice rink. "Are your parents looking?"

She casually looked over. "No, not now."

LA through some money on the table, reached over, grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the booth.

"Where are we going?" she laughed as they ran out of the restaurant.

"To have some fun." Checking both ways, he quickly pulled her across the street. A bigger smile spread across her face as they reached the rink booth. "Size nine and… What size do you wear?"

"Size six."

"Size six for my lady," LA said to the man running the booth, but he was smiling at Kari. He handed them their skates. They rushed over to the bench and started to put them on.

"Just to warn you, I've never ice skated before," Kari said, tying her skate laces.

"Well, you're lucky you have me. I've been in hockey since I was three." He stood up and extended his hand to her. "Just hold my hand."

Gently, she put her hand in his hand. He pulled her up and carefully got her onto the ice. She wobbled a bit before she gained her balance.

"There you go. Now move your legs like you're shuffling your feet," LA instructed. She looked from her feet to him with a worried look on her face. "Don't worry. I won't let go."

She left out a sigh of relief and smiled at him. Gracefully, she moved her legs in a rhythmic pattern and was soon pulling LA.

"I think you've got the hang of it," he chuckled.

"Just one thing: how do you STOP?" she shrieked, before taking herself and LA off the ice and face-planting on the ground. "Ow…" she groaned, pushing herself off. "Well, I need practice. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he laughed. "You?"

"Good. Just might want to pull my dress down," she laughed nervously as she fixed her pink dress. It was a long sleeve, pink dress with buttons down the front and white fur on the wrists and hem. She had on a matching beanie, pink with a white fur trim, to hold her curled blonde hair in place.

"Yeah, don't want to give these people a free show," he joked, before sitting up.

"I think that would be called accidental prostitution and that is illegal in some parts of the world." She sat up next to him leaning back on her arms.

LA looked over at her. Kari looked at him. They both leaned in. LA took her cheek in his hand. They kissed.

LA licked his lips when they pulled apart. "Cherry," he observed. "You know my favorite flavor."

She blushed. "Of course. Nothing but the best."

"This could be the start of a beautiful relationship."

**… … …**

"I'm back!" LA yelled into the house, throwing his coat over the kitchen chair. "Hello?" he called when no one answered. He searched through the house only to find that he was alone. He took out his cell phone and called his mom.

"What?" Clare asked.

"Well, hello to you, too," LA scoffed. "Where is everyone?"

"We're at the hospital. Julia's having the baby. Just stay home until your dad can pick you up. I got to go. Love you, baby. Bye."

"But Mom…She hung up on me." He groaned. He went over to the computer and logged onto Facerange, where he noticed Kari had put that she was in a relationship. He change his status to 'in a relationship with Kari Mason' before logging off. He sighed, "Screw it. It's boring here." He ran to the garage, pulled out his skate board, and preceded to skate on snow to the hospital.

By the time he got there, he was covered in snow. He hid his board behind a bush and brushed off the snow before walking in. "Julia Lancaster?"

"Um… we can't let non-family in right now," the front desk lady said.

"I'm her brother," he explained.

"Can I have some ID?"

"I'm thirteen! I don't drive! The only ID I have is… my school ID…" He did a face-palm, before taking out his ID necklace that he forgot to take out after school out of jacket pocket.

After she verified it, she told him the floor level, which he didn't need, seeing as he's been here two times already, one for Bryson's birth and one for her premature labor.

He walked out of the elevator and ran to the waiting room.

"LA? What are you doing here?" Clare asked.

"Well, I'm about to be an uncle," he answered, slightly nodding his head. He took a seat. "Kind of want to be here for that."

"How did you get here?"

LA laughed nervously, "Um… let's just say: I can skateboard on ice."

Clare sighed, shaking her head in her hand.

"So how did this date I heard you went on go?" Eli asked.

"Good," he nodded. "Very good."

"How good?"

"Well, I think I'm taken."

Eli tousled his hair. "You are my son."

"You had doubts?"

"I don't know what you mom did in school." He looked over a Clare with a smirk on his face. "Or who?"

She scoffed, then threw her magazine at him.

"So hostile," he smirked.

"So how long have you been here?" LA asked, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

"About two hours," Clare answered. "So I don't know how long we have to…"

"I FUCKING HATE YOU, BRADY!" Julia yelled.

"And she's down the hall and around the corner…" Eli said in amazement.

LA burst out laughing. "He's so screwed!"

**… … …**

A couple hours later, Brady came out into the waiting room. Eli was the only one awake.

"What happened to your hand?" Eli asked, noticing Brady's bandaged hand.

"She broke it."

Eli smirked. "That's my girl. So how's the baby?"

"Fine. I said happy birthday."

"You mean the baby's been born?"

"Yeah…" Brady answered, confused. "Why else would I come out?"

Eli shook his son and wife. "LA, Clare, wake up. Julia had the baby."

"Huh?" Clare mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"We have a grandkid!" Eli exclaimed.

"She had the baby?" She stood up, bouncing on her heels in anticipation.

Brady was smiling as much as Clare was. "Come on. Let's go meet your granddaughter."

"She's a girl! Aw!" Clare squealed, following Brady to the room.

"Are you excited to meet your niece?" Eli asked.

"Of course, Dad, but this time, I'm in the double digits…" His eyes widened. "Where's Bryson?"

"It was his naptime when Julia's water broke, so we dropped him off at your grandparents."

They walked into her room. He sighed, "Okay. That scared me. I thought he was off running around here."

"Come on. Have a little more faith in Mom and Dad," Julia smirked.

"Hey, Jules." Eli hugged her. "How do you feel?"

"I'm in love with drugs," Julia smiled.

"Where my niece?" LA demanded.

"Look at her," Clare cooed, holding a pink bundle. "She's so gorgeous."

LA looked down at the bundle. She had curly brown hair and ice blue eyes. She was almost asleep.

"She's so tiny," he whispered, memorized. "Hi. I'm your uncle, LA."

"I think he loves her," Brady whispered.

"She's my niece," he retorted. "Of course I love her."

"Can we quit calling her 'her' and 'she' and learn her name?" Eli asked, moving his eyes from his granddaughter to his daughter.

"Oliveria Alexandria Lancaster."

Eli put on a small smile. "You took my advice, Brady."

"You were right. She liked it."

Julia looked from Eli to Brady and back to Eli. "What are you talking about?"

"It's a long story," Clare giggled.

"I have time!" Julia exclaimed. I have nothing but time!"

"Fine. I mention Alexandria to Brady," Eli explained. "Julia and I, the one I dated, it was her birthday and I had the perfect gift: tickets to her favorite band, Asking Alexandria. But her parents wouldn't let her go. She ended up sneaking out and meeting me in your grandfather's car, which I took without permission."

"Oh, how terrible," Julia sarcastically whispered.

"It gets worse," he promised. "We get there. We're both having a blast. She wants to do it."

"Oh, my husband's former sex life," Clare sighed, smirking. "I love hearing this."

"_Anyway_, we got back to my dad's car and proceeded to… do it. And you can guess what happens when people do it."

"She got pregnant," Brady filled in.

"She got pregnant. And after she told me, the first thing that came out of her mouth was 'Her name's going to be Alexandria'. But… you know what happened…"

"You're dad asked me to carry on that name," Brady explained.

Julia had some tears coming to her eyes. "That's so sweet, Dad."

"I know. That's me, Mr. Sweet," Eli smirked.

"Speaking of relationships, how'd the date go? Did you kiss her?"

LA blushed. "Julia!"

"Oh, come on. I'm your big sister. I have a right to know."

LA's face turned fully red. "Yeah…"

"Aw! My little bro has a girlfriend," Julia teased.

"Can we shut up about me and focus on your kid?" he asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Sure," Julia smiled, "after you tell me all the details of your date."

"Dammit…" LA groaned under his breath.

* * *

"So how's the niece?" Kari asked, playing with LA's fingers

"Cute as ever," LA smiled, adjusting his arm around her shoulders.

"Of course. She is a little cutie."

Kari made things public with her and LA the next day. They were the biggest couple in Degrassi Junior High, the head cheerleader and the star quarterback, point guard, pitcher, hockey and soccer center, sprinter, and lacrosse midfielder. It was said that they were a match made in middle school.

Kari and LA were walking up to the school with his arm still around her shoulders as Cayden came sprinting down the steps towards them.

"Oh crap," he whispered. He kissed her cheek. "Go."

"What?"

"Just go," he demanded, taking his arm away from her. He gently pushed her away just as Cayden stopped in front of him. "We're not going to do this again, not in front of my girlfriend."

"I'm concerned about kicking your ass right now," Cayden said. LA could hear a bit of fear in his voice.

"Then what do you want Fitzgerald?"

"Have you seen Calissa?"

His eyes widened. "Calissa? N-No. Why?"

"She didn't come home last night."

"What do you mean?"

Cayden took LA by his shoulders. "Calissa's been kidnapped!"

* * *

**I'd like to thank you guys for your support. It means alot. My bf broke up with me, so that inspired the LA and Kari relationship. Also one of the best reviewers ever, Lyss, told me that I shouldn't doubt myself, so I took out all of the filters of my mind when writing this and I love how it turned out. I really do. **

**So cliffhanger! What happened to Calissa? You'll have to way to find out! And did you find out what was special with Kari? I only mentioned it once in the story.**

**So, as always, Thanks for Reading and Review Please!**


	15. Julia Age 18 LA Age 14 Bryson Age 4

**Hello! **

**So this isn't as long as I like ti plot wise, but it's all I got for this chapter. Sorry. But it was six pages, so Alright!**

**So, as far as this story goes, I think I have about two to three chapters left, then I want to do a three to five-ish chapters spin-off sort-of thing about Bryson finding out the Eli and Clare aren't his real parents. I'm currently starting the prologue to two other stories, but I can't post either of them until I find out the sex of Jenna and KC's baby, because it plays a main role in them. But you guys need to tell me which one you would like to read first. I'll put the summaries in my profile. It's up to you guys to decide. **

**I had a lot of people think it was Kari who kidnapped Calissa. SPOILER ALERT: she didn't. Kari is not a bad person. I never had that intention. But you'll find out who did kidnap Calissa in this chapter. Also I only had one person guess what was special about Kari. You'll find out in this chapter as well. **

**So, without any more of my talking, Enjoy!**

* * *

"So any news?" LA asked.

"No," Cayden answered. "I'm terrified, LA. I've never started school without my sister, let alone high school."

It was the first day back to school, the first day of high school. Calissa has been missing since February, seven months. Since then, LA and Cayden have been doing everything they can to find her. They've gotten to be nicer to each other. Cayden even explained why he didn't like LA.

_Flashback:_

_"Hey, LA, can you help me look for Calissa after school?" Cayden asked._

_His eyes widened a little in shock. "Um… did you just call me LA?"_

_"Uh… yeah. You go by LA. I thought I'd address you by that," Cayden answered._

_"Well, I know that. I just thought you knew me by 'Adam' or 'Goldsworthy' or 'dumbass'."_

_Cayden sighed. "I think you deserve an explanation." He sat down on the bench._

_LA straightened up. "I at least deserve that."_

_"Before I start off, Mark, Fitz as your parents call him, isn't our real dad. He's our step-dad. Our real dad… he was a jackass. He was abusive and hurtful, with an addiction to sex. We were five and our mom wasn't home. So he used the closest female at the time… and that was… Calissa." Cayden was tearing up. "He raped her, LA. Our own dad raped his daughter. Afterwards, he beat her. I tried to stop him, but all the managed to do was get me thrown down the steps and break my ankle. But I wasn't concerned about me. I was more worried about Calissa. He didn't break anything, but she was covered in bruises. Our mom found out, got a divorce, and moved us as far away as possible. That place was here. Then she met Mark. I was very reluctant to let him near my sister, but over time, he proved to me that he really cared for my mom and my sister."_

_"So that's why you filled out over Max," LA figured out._

_Cayden's face held a small smile. "I broke his nose."_

_"You broke my wrist," LA reminded._

_"And I'm sorry about that," he apologized. "It's just that I liked to know the guy before my sister starts to like them… and my sister really likes you. I was afraid you were going to hurt her."_

_LA sighed. "Cayden, forget everything you've ever watched about the star high school jock. I'm not a horrible girlfriend beater. Ask Kari."_

_"And I understand that… now," Cayden laughed. "I'm sorry about everything."_

_"It's cool, dude. I understand where you're coming from. I have a sister. I'm protective of her."_

_"Isn't she older than you, though?"_

_"You're point? Something happened to Julia, too."_

_Cayden sensed tension. "It's fine. You don't have to tell me."_

_"No. I feel you need to know," he argued. "You know my little brother, Bryson?"_

_"Yeah…"_

_"Well, biologically, he's my nephew. Julia got pregnant at thirteen. I was pissed at the father for taking my only sister's virginity, but… he really loved her. They're married now."_

_"Wow, I had no idea."_

_"No one did, besides my family, her best friend… and Calissa." He sighed. "I feel awkward now."_

_"Yeah, just a tad…" Cayden added. He pointed towards the school. "I'm gonna go…"_

_"Okay… See ya later?"_

_"Sure…"_

_End Flashback_

"I know. It must be hard," LA agreed, "but we're gonna find her. It just takes time."

"Time we may not have," Cayden growled. "She could be dead, LA."

"Don't say that. I'm worried about it, too."

Kari came running up the steps towards them. "Hey there!" she exclaimed before kissing LA. "Any luck?"

"Nope," Cayden grimaced.

"Need a third for tonight?" she asked.

LA didn't like to include Kari in this for fear that she might get hurt, but this time was different. "Actually, I need you to come along this time."

"What do you have in mind?" Cayden asked.

"If I told you now, you would knock me out," he said. The bell rang. "Just meet me out here after school. Make sure your cell phones are charged. Got it?"

They nodded, then walked into the building.

**… … …**

"Goldsworthy, you better tell me where we're going," Cayden asked.

"Once the train stops," LA promised.

"You said you tell me once we got on the train!"

"Well, I lied!"

LA convinced Kari and Cayden to blindly get on a train with him to somewhere they don't know. LA was surprised they even followed him from the school.

Twenty minutes later, the train stopped. LA took Kari's hand and stood up, motioning Cayden to follow.

Once they were out of the train, Cayden asked again, "Where are we going?"

LA turned around and threw his hands up. "We're going to your dad's house, okay?"

Cayden stopped and stared at him for a minute. "What?"

"This is the last place I could think of that she would be at. The police are looking for her, but they haven't thought of here."

"Are you insane?" Cayden yelled through his teeth. "My dad can easily kill me and you, not to mention your girlfriend! What were you thinking?"

"My plan was for me and you to sneak in and for Kari to stay outside with the police on speed-dial."

"Wow. Great plan, Adam," he spat, his voice bitter. He turned around. "I'm leaving."

"I guess you don't love your sister!" he yelled back. Cayden stopped in his tracks. Before he knew it, Cayden threw him on the ground. "What the hell, man!"

"I love my sister! You know that!"

"Then why won't even consider that maybe your abusive, rapist father has your sister hostage and is doing who knows what to her?"

Cayden's shallow breath calmed. He reached out his hand to help LA up. "Come on, dumbass. Let's go…"

LA got up and took Kari's hand. "I found out where he lives on the internet."

"How did you…" Kari began.

"Don't ask," LA sighed. "It's the last house on the corner. Cayden, you and me will circle around the house and try to find an entrance. Kari, I want you stay at that stop sign and call the cops if you since something suspicious." He pointed to the corner. "You ready?"

Kari snapped her phone open. "Ready!"

"Ready," he agreed.

LA and Cayden ran to the garage. There was no car in the driveway or the garage. They snuck into the backyard. Towards the bottom of the house was an open window. Cayden tapped on LA's shoulder and pointed to it. LA propped the window open with a piece of spare wood from the yard. He nodded for Cayden to go first. He slid inside, followed by LA. Once they were inside, the wood fell into the basement, closing the window.

"Genius, how are we going to get out now?" Cayden whispered.

LA slapped him upside the head. "No one's home. We'll go through the front."

A muffled shriek cried out.

"What was that?" Cayden asked.

"I don't know," LA answered, "but it sounded like it came from over there! Let's go!" He ran through a bunch of boxes until he came to the edge of the basement.

"Where's the sound?" Cayden asked.

It cried out again. They both looked left towards the sound. There she was: Calissa. She was tied up in the corner, with a cloth over her mouth. Her pink dress was torn and her hair and make-up were a mess. She was covered in bruises and was thinner than before.

"Calissa!" They both cried out. LA took off the cloth, while Cayden untied her.

"Are you okay?" LA asked.

"Do I look like I'm okay?" she started to cry.

Cayden hugged Calissa for dear life. "Calissa, I'm so happy you're alive."

Calissa cried harder, bring LA into the hug. "I'm so happy you guys found me." She pulled away. "Dad, our real dad, he kidnapped me."

"We know. LA figured out," Cayden explained.

"We got to get you out of here," LA whispered.

The boys started to walk towards the steps, but Calissa grabbed their hands. "Wait! He's home!"

LA took out his phone. "I'll text Kari."

"Kari Mason?"

"His girlfriend," he explained.

"Oh…" she sighed, disappointed.

LA was in the middle of his text when the basement door opened.

Calissa's eyes widened. "You guys have to hide. Now!" she whispered.

"Who are you talking to?" the man asked, coming into view. "Who the hell are you?"

"Hey, Dad," Cayden boldly greeted.

Before their dad lounged at Cayden, LA sent his text to Calissa:

_**We found Calissa! The kidnapper's here! Call the cops! -LA**_

**… … …**

"What the…" Eli sighed, pulling up to the strange house. They had gotten a call from police to come to this address. The only thing they knew is that it involved LA.

Eli parked down the street from the multiple police cars and officers. They got out of the car and took each other's hands as they walked up to an officer. "Are you the parents of Adam Goldsworthy?"

"Yes. What's going on with our son?" Clare asked, obviously worried.

"Your son is being held hostage in that house with another boy and a girl," the officer informed them. "We got a call from a Kari Mason saying that they were in there."

Clare lost her breath. She squeezed Eli's hand harder, then buried her face into Eli's chest, crying.

"Are the other kids Fitzgerald's?" Eli asked.

"Yeah. Calissa and Cayden."

"They found Calissa," Eli muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"The girl in there," he started pointed to house, "has been missing since February! My son and her brother found her!"

"We weren't aware of this," the officer explained. "I have to go the head officer."

Once he was gone, Eli turned and hugged Clare. "He's going to be okay."

"You don't know that, Eli!" she cried. "He's my baby boy! I don't know what being done to him! I need to protect him!"

"You can't do anything right know, Clare." He turned his head towards the house. "We just have to hope for the best…"

**… … …**

"Why are you here?" Robert, their dad, asked.

"Why did you kidnap my sister?" Cayden snapped.

Robert slapped Cayden across the face. "You can't talk to our dad like that!"

"What dad?" Cayden laughed. "Because a real dad doesn't beat and rape his kids."

Robert didn't say anything. He stood there for a second, then picked up his son and slammed him into the wall.

"Cayden!" Calissa shrieked. She started to get up, but LA held her back. He knew she wouldn't help.

Cayden fell to the floor. Robert turned towards LA and Calissa. LA was ready to whatever he could to protect her. Robert raised his fist, but before he got bring it down, a loud smack rang through the basement. Robert fell in front of them, revealing Cayden holding a metal chair.

"Run!" he yelled, throwing the chair down. He ran over and help LA get Calissa up. They started towards the stairs. Robert groaned a little. Calissa was limping, so LA picked her up bridal style and carried her upstairs. "How do we get out of here?"

"Get back here!" Robert yelled, running up the steps.

"The front door, moron!" LA yelled, kicking Cayden towards the living room. They ran as fast as they could with Robert on their heels. Cayden threw open the door, running out into the hoard of police. LA kicked the door shut before Robert could run out. But he threw the door open and was immediately tackled by five officers.

Out of breath, Cayden and LA reached the police barrier. A soon as he put Calissa down, a police officer took her to an ambulance.

"Cayden, go with her. She'll need you," LA insisted.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he smirked. "You hit him with the chair just in time."

"And my parents said I would never learn anything from wrestling," he joked. They fist-bumped. "And… thanks, LA."

He smiled. "No prob, dude." Cayden followed the officer as Clare and Eli ran up.

"Oh, my baby!" Clare shrieked, hugging LA.

"Mom. Mom! MOM! I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO BREATHE!" LA yelled. Clare released him enough to look at him. She slapped him. "Did you just slap me? I'm pretty sure that's child abuse."

"Adam Skylar Goldsworthy, what the fuck do you think you were doing?" Clare shouted.

LA's eyes widened, afraid of his mother. "I was doing what the police wouldn't. I was looking for Calissa."

"Adam, he could have killed you!" Eli yelled.

"But he didn't!"

"You were really lucky," Clare growled. "You don't realize how grounded you are!"

LA huffed. "I understand…"

"LA!" Kari cried, running up to them. She wrapped her arms around LA's neck. "I thought you were a goner!"

"Kari!" her dad yelled, following her. "There you are. Are you okay, LA?"

"Yeah, Mr. Mason," LA answered.

"Mason?" Clare whispered to herself. She looked the man up and down. "Spinner Mason?"

"Um, yeah." Spinner extended his hand to Eli, who shook it, then Clare. "Spinner Mason, Kari's dad. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Goldsworthy."

"You don't remember me, do you?" Clare asked, smiling. "Clare, Clare Edwards."

"Baby Edwards! That is you!" Spinner exclaimed. "How have you been? I see someone has taken away Saint Clare."

"I haven't been Saint Clare for eighteen years," she laughed. "Spin, this is Eli, my husband. Eli, this is Spinner. He dated my older sister, Darcy."

"Hey, man," he greeted.

"Hey, Eli."

"Well, this was unexpected," LA commented.

"Totally," Kari agreed.

"Oh, don't think we haven't forgotten about you, young man," Clare warned. "You aren't leaving the house until Christmas."

LA sighed. "I understand."

"We better go," Spinner said. "It was nice seeing you again, Clare. Nice meeting you, Eli."

"You, too," Clare said, gently pushing LA towards Morty. "I'm sure we'll see you again."

As they parted, Eli pulled LA aside and tossed the keys at Clare, telling her to start Morty. "Son, this could be worse."

"And tell me, oh wise one, how could it?"

"Julia could be here."

LA smirked. "I would not here the end of it."

**… … …**

"I can't believe you were in to a rapist's house!" Julia laughed.

"How did you even get in?" Brady asked. "Did he offer you candy or something?"

LA blushed, slamming his head down on the table. "I thought you didn't tell them."

"They didn't need to," Julia smiled evilly, spinning her coke with a straw. "You made the news."

LA groaned and slammed his head back down on the table.

* * *

"Merry Christmas!" Everyone yelled, raising a glass of either champagne or fruit juice. It was Christmas at the Goldsworthy house and everyone was there, including CeCe and Bullfrog, Randall and Helen, Julia, Brady, and Oliviera, even the Mason's came. Julia and Brady were on the floor playing with Oliveria. CeCe, Bullfrog, Randall, and Helen were fussing over Bryson. Eli and Clare were talking with Spinner and Emma, Kari's mother. LA and Kari were snuggled up on the coach. His arm was around her shoulders, playing with the heart necklace he gave her while she had her arms wrapped around his waist.

"Oh, she's so adorable!" CeCe squealed over Oliveria. "I'm too young to be a great-grandma. I'm only 53!"

"Grandma, you're making me feeling like a slut," Julia complained, smiling.

"You know, it doesn't take much to do that now," Brady noticed. Julia scoffed, slapping her arm.

Eli caught sight of that and laughed. "I taught her that."

"Sure you did…" Emma rolled her eyes. "But CeCe is right. She doesn't look like a great-grandmother."

"Well, my mom was eighteen when she had me, Clare was eighteen when we had Julia, and Julia was seventeen," he explained. "Teen pregnancy runs in the family."

"Well for LA's sake, it better stop with him." Spinner glared at LA. "It will end badly for him."

They chuckled a little at his remark, before looking over towards LA and Kari. LA whispered something into her ear, causing her to let out a small giggle.

"Trust me, LA doesn't like to be left alone with Bryson and is terrified to be with Oliveria by himself," Clare smiled. "He doesn't want kids right now."

"Better not," Spinner growled, still glaring.

"Your dad's glaring at me," LA whispered to Kari.

"Let him. He's just afraid of my big, scary boyfriend," she joked, kissing his cheek.

"Thanks for trying, but you know I'm neither big, nor scary. I have my dad's height: short for a dude."

She looked up at him. "You're taller than me."

"Your point?"

"Just take the compliment!"

"Take a compliment that I'm big and scary?" LA teased. "Will do…"

She smirked, then slapped him lightly.

"Oh, I have a surprise for you," LA reminded, gently pushing her off of him.

"Wasn't the necklace engraved with my initials surprise enough?" Kari asked. He took her hand, helping her off the couch.

"Nope. You're going to love it even more," he promised, walking towards the stairs.

"Even more than the giant banner you put across the gym for our one year anniversary?" she smiled, remembering a couple weeks ago when she walked into the gym before school to find a huge banner saying 'Happy Anniversary!' with the floor covered in balloons and LA holding a stuffed monkey hold a heart that said 'I Love You'.

He put a foot on the bottom step, still holding her hand. "Even more. I just have to get my iPod."

"Where are you going?" Eli asked, bring everyone's attention to LA and Kari.

"We're going to my room to get my iPod and nothing sexual," LA answered, knowing where he's dad was going. "You can even send Bryson with us."

"Okay, just as long as you're not doing anything sexual," Emma said, watching them both turn bright red and run upstairs.

"Bryson, come here," Julia whispered.

"Yes?"

"Go follow them," she smirked.

"Okay!" he exclaimed, running upstairs.

"You're thinking something evil. I can tell," Brady said. "What are you planning?"

"Let's just say: I've taught him well," she smirked even more.

After a few seconds of talking, Bryson yelled from upstairs, "LA, what are you doing to Kari?"

"Adam!"

"Kari!" Their parents shouted.

"I was handing her my iPod!" LA shrieked.

"Classic," she muttered, putting her hand behind her for Brady to high five.

LA and Kari came downstairs, followed by Bryson. "You're evil."

"Um… I don't know this 'Evil' of which you speak. My name is Julia, not Evil."

LA sighed, then took Kari outside. There was about a foot of snow on the ground sparkling from the street lights. He took her to the sidewalk in front of the house.

"What are we doing?" she asked, clutching her arms, shivering.

"You'll have to wait and see," she smiled. Noticing she was shivering, he took off his jacket, putting it on her shoulders. "I should have had you bring a jacket."

"Well, duh. Most people don't wear a tank top outside in the middle of winter." She had on a green and red stripped tank top with a green mini skirt and see through white tights and sleeves with white fur on the wrists.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, taking her in his arms. "Better?"

"Much. Now what are we our here for?"

"Oh!" He turned on his iPod, playing 'Hero' by Enrique Iglesias. He placed his hands on her hips, causing her to wrap her arms around his neck. They slowed dance in silence in the snow for half of the song. "Kari?"

She looked up at him. "Yeah?"

She sighed, trying to piece together the words. "I know I've told you this, through texts, emails, Facerange, stuffed animals, but I've never verbally told you…"

"Told me what?" she asked, barely audible.

"Kari, I love you."

They stopped dancing and stared at each other for a minute. Kari smiled with tears filling her eyes. "You're right. I like that WAY better than the banner." They kissed. "I love you, LA." They went back to kissing and stayed kissing for what seemed like forever.

* * *

**Ta-dah! There you have it!**

**I'm obviously brain-dead on what to write next, so you may have to wait a little longer than I have been making you wait for the next chapter... I'm so sorry! I'll be think about where I'm taking this all the time! I promise!**

**Don't forget to tell me which story you like better! You're impute would mean a lot to me! I need to know which one people are more interested in to focus on that one a little more than the other. But both will be on here! Trust me! Tell me**** in your review (hint hint).**

**Thanks for Reading! Review Please!**


	16. LA Age 16 Bryson Age 6

**I'm not dead! You probably thought I was, though! I'm sorry this took almost two months to finish. I just haven't been inspired with Degrassi in between seasons and I had finals and such, but really, I don't have a good excuse. I honestly pulled this idea out of my butt last week. So, I'm very sorry!**

**But I had a goal to get this out before my birthday and I did! Today is Tuesday and my birthday is Thursday! Got my deadline by two days! BOO-YAH!**

**Anyway, after this chapter, I have no idea what to do. So that where you guys come in. Tell me what YOU want to read. Be specific. Don't just tell me "more Eclare" or "more Brulia". Give me situation we want to read! If I use it, I will mention you gave me the idea. I hate people who claim ideas. **

**This is probably my shortest chapter and the ending is very... unexpected, I guess. I'm sorry! Bare with me!**

**So, the LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG, FREAKING LONG wait, ENJOY!**

* * *

"You have to come," LA begged.

"You know I'm not the party type, LA," Calissa said, holding a doubtful look on her face.

"This is the biggest party of the year!" LA yelled above the students in the cafeteria. One of the junior guys on the football team was holding a massive party at his house that Friday night. "Everyone's going, including your brother."

She narrowed her eyes. "So my brother attending is supposed to persuade me?"

"Uh…" LA stared, opened mouthed. "Um, no. I just thought it would make you feel… safer?"

Her eyes softened and small smile formed on her face. "Way to talk yourself out of that one."

He rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his shaggy, slightly curly, auburn hair. "I tried." He waited her her to reply to his comment, watching her pop a grape into her mouth using a fork. She was a very polite and proper eater, as LA discovered over the years.

After she swallowed the fruit, she looked back into his blue eyes. "I'll make you a deal: I'll go to the party with you and Kari, if you make above an 85 on your algebra II test tomorrow." Calissa was still LA's tutor. His grades have improved little by little over the years with her help.

He gulped nervously before reaching for his stuff. "Okay. Deal." As Kari sat down, LA got up and ran out of the cafeteria.

Kari watched her boyfriend run out of the room, then turned to Calissa with a concerned look on her face. "Where's he going?"

Calissa, paying attention to her book and picking a piece of strawberry off of her fork and into her mouth, replied, "My guess: to study for that algebra II test."

**… … …**

"You just had to make an 88," Calissa groaned, reluctantly stepping out of the car. "And Cayden just had to get food poisoning!" She looked at the house, smoothing down the torso part of her hot pink tee shirt nervously. Toilet paper rolls were strung over the house and trees. Kids were surrounding the front porch and yard, along with a lot of garbage. The music was almost shaking the ground.

"Okay, I'll pick you guys up at midnight," Julia called from the car. "Have fun! Don't get pregnant!"

"I'll try not to!" LA yelled back. Kari and Calissa giggled at his remark. He put his arms over their shoulders. "Let's go, ladies. I have to be a pimp now."

Calissa threw his arm off of her, then shoved his shoulder. "I will not be a prostitute," she remarked with a small smile on her face.

"Okay," Kari said, taking Calissa's hand, released LA's grip on her. "While you go be a 'pimp', we'll go just take up lesbianism."

He stared at both of the girls for a minute, moving his eyes from his girlfriend to his best friend. After much thought, he came up with this question: "Can I watch?"

The smile disappeared on both of the girls' faces. They both smack him across the face, at the same time, but on different sides of his face. He heard two small scoffed before watching them both walk towards the house.

"What? Is it something I said?" He called after them.

**… … …**

"Mommy! Mommy!" Bryson yelled, running into the living room where Eli and Clare were laying down on the couch.

"Bryson! Bryson!" Clare laughed, picking up the six-year-old and setting him in between a now sitting Eli and herself.

He held up a board game. "You promised you'd play with me."

She sighed, remembering what she had told him that morning so she could get some cleaning done. "I did, didn't I?"

"Uh-huh!" Bryson smiled, setting up the game.

"Bry, Mommy and I are trying to have a romantic night," Eli explained.

"But Mommy promised and you guys said to never break a promise." He gave them huge puppy eyes.

Eli tried to be strong, but broke under the stare. "Damn, he's good," he whispered through his teeth. "Fine. Have fun, Clare."

He went to stand up, but Clare grabbed onto his wrist. "Oh, no, no, no. You're playing, too."

Eli whined. "Why?"

"Because you are his father and need to spend time with him. Now sit!" She demanded.

He slumped back down in his seat. "Fine… What are we playing, kid?"

"Trouble!" Bryson exclaimed.

"Trouble!" he exclaimed sarcastically. "How fun…"

**… … …**

Calissa sat in the corner, watching the rest of the teenagers dance and drink. The smell of alcohol instantly hit her nose as soon as she entered the house. Kari hung around her for a couple minutes, but then was dragged away by her cheerleader friends. Calissa wasn't much for parties, so she found a nice seat in the corner of the room and waited for it to be over.

"Can I get you a drink?" A male voice asked her.

"Oh, no, thanks. I'm…" she looked up, giving her most polite smile, until she saw the person. "…good."

"I never thought I would see Miss Goody Two Shoes Calissa at a party," he said, sitting down next to her. He tried to put his around her shoulders.

"N-No," she stuttered, removing his arm.

"What? We had a good thing," he complained.

"You hit me," Calissa reminded him. "We had nothing, Max." She stood up, disgusted and slightly afraid. Max grabbed her wrist as she was about to turn away.

"Yeah, we did," he assured her, using an angry tone.

"Max, let me go," she begged, very afraid.

"Come on. Can we start over?" He grabbed her, rubbed her back sexually, and leaned in.

"Max, I said no," she protested, trying to push him away.

"And I said yes," he replied through his teeth. He managed to overpower her, kissing her intensely. She was able to break away. Her hand went up, smacking him across the face. She gasped. His hand went up to where she hit him. His surprised look turned into a scowl. Before she knew what was happening, his fist made contact with her jaw. She fell to floor. "Don't _ever _hit me."

Calissa could barely see through the tears blurring her vision, but she saw him walk away. Once he was gone, she stood up, wobbling a little to steady herself. She needed to get out of there. With Max there, there was no telling what would happen next. She made her way to door, flinging it open as she ran out. She was almost to the curb when someone called her name.

"Calissa! Wait!" LA called out. Calissa stopped, not turning around. She just stood, starring at her feet, trying to stop crying. "Calissa, where are you going?" He turned her around. The bruise was already starting to form.

"What happened?"

She sniffed, failing at holding back her tears. "M… M-Max…"

"What's going on?" Kari asked, catching up with them.

"Max? Max Rochester? As in your ex-boyfriend Max Roch…"

"Yes, LA!" she yelled, looking up at him. By now, she didn't care if she cried. She needed to get it out. "My abusive ex-boyfriend started hitting on me. He told me he wanted to get back together. He kissed me even though I told him not to. I slapped him. He punched me." She broke down, crying into his chest. "Just take me home. I don't want to be here."

LA's anger boiled. He seriously had the nervous to kiss her, then punch her when he didn't like what he heard? He needed to be taught a lesson. "Stay here," he told Kari, shifting Calissa from him to her before running towards the house.

"LA, what are you doing?" Calissa asked, watching him go inside. She followed him. "LA, please don't confront him," she begged, realizing what he was about to do.

He ignored her. Jumping up to the DJ system, he took a mic and shut the music off. There were a few complaints, but they stopped when they saw him. "Where's Max Rochester?" Silence. "I said where the fuck is Max Rochester?"

"Right here," a confident voice spoke up. The crowd parted, revealing Max.

"Good." LA jumped off the stage and punched him straight in the face.

"LA!" Calissa shrieked.

While he staggered back, LA pushed him to the ground, throwing punch after punch. Max grabbed his arms, rolling over both of them. He tried to punch LA, but he kneed Max's stomach, stopping him. LA threw Max off of him and stood up. "I should have done that three years ago."

"LA!" Calissa yelled, running over to him. "LA, what was that for?"

"No one hits my best friend and gets away with it," LA answered, smirking.

She just stared at him, not knowing what to say. Luckily, Kari spoke up. "We better get out of here before we're kicked out."

"Yeah, it was a pretty crappy party," LA admitted. He took both of their hands and walked them out.

**… … …**

"Whoa now!" Eli complained. "You can't do that!"

"I can jump you!" Clare yelled back, shoving the rule book in his face. "Now take your turn."

Eli mumbled, reading over the rules. He groaned, pressing the clicker.

"Dear Lord," Bryson prayed, "Can we please get through one game?"

**… … …**

"Really? I'll kill him," Cayden seethed.

"Just watch over her tonight," LA said.

"Of course. And LA, thanks for kicking his ass," Cayden smirked.

"No problem," he smirked back. Cayden closed the door and LA walked back down the sidewalk where Kari was standing.

"You really care about her," Kari said, looking at the ground.

"She's my best friend. Of course I care about her."

Kari giggled softly. "Not like that." She looked up at him. "I know you like her LA."

"Kari," he whispered, grabbing onto her arms. "I like _you_. I love _you_."

"No, you don't, LA," she cried softly. "You love her. You've always loved her." She gave him a small smile. "And I'm okay with that."

"What are you talking about?" LA asked.

"You wouldn't have done that for me. You wouldn't call him out, then beat him up for me." She took a staggered breath. "LA, I know you think you love me… but you don't. And I love you, but I love you enough to let you go."

"Kari, please don't," he begged. "I do love you."

"You need her and she needs you," she cried. "I'm sorry."

He took a breath, trying to take it all in. "So we're done?"

"I'm sorry, LA," she cried barely audible.

His arm fell to his sides. "Can I at least walk you home?"

"I live down the block. I think I'll be fine." She turned away. "Good-bye, LA."

**… … …**

"And she wins again!" Clare exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Ugh," Eli groaned. "Best sixteen out of thirty-one?"

"You're on!"

As they were setting up the pieces, LA walked into the house, dumbstruck.

"LA, you're home early," Clare noticed as Eli took his turn. She saw the expression her son had. "What's wrong?"

Eli turned to face his son. "Is that blood on your cheek?"

LA reached up, wiping the blood from his face. "Oh, it's the other guy's."

"You got into a fight?" Clare exclaimed.

"What did you do?" Eli asked.

"I did nothing," LA said, sounding depressed. "The guy just… made Calissa feel uncomfortable. It's nothing."

"LA, there's something else. We'll talk about the fight later. Come sit down," Clare offered.

"If it's okay with you guys, I'd rather go to bed," LA said.

"Okay, but… did something happen with Kari?" Eli asked.

LA stayed quite for a couple seconds. "She dumped me."

"Oh, baby," Clare cried. "I'm sorry. We'll talk in morning."

"Thanks, Mom." He started for the stairs, but stopped and turned around. "I'll take Bryson up to bed," he proposed, lifting the sleeping six-year-old.

"Oh, he fell asleep…" Clare noticed.

LA stared from his mother to his father with a disgusted look on his face. "Good parents." He looked down at the coffee table. "And playing Trouble. I'll go get you guys a medal."

"Just go upstairs," Eli yelled, throwing a pillow at his sons.

LA playfully scoffed, running up the stairs.

Clare sighed, "Wow."

"I know. How are we going to deal with this?" Eli asked.

"Julia was easy. She married her first boyfriend. We didn't have to deal with the break-up."

"No, just the pregnancies," Eli reminded. They remained silent for a minute, thinking about how they were going to handle this. "It's your turn."

"Okay." Clare pressed the clicker.

* * *

**There you go! Again: I apologize for the wait. It makes me upset that I waited this long. And I'm sorry for the crappy fight scene. I'm not good with action. **

**Don't forget to help me with ideas! Leave them in the review! **

**Thanks For Reading! Review Please!**


	17. The Finale: Part 1

**Hey, Hey, Hey, my lovely readers!**

**Sadly, this is the last age group for this series...**

**BUT ****This is only part one of the finale! I'm think it'll be three parts, but I can't say for sure. But there will definatly be two parts! I know that!**

**I have so many ideas on how to end it, but I'm currently in the process of moving from an apartment to a house with my parents, so I wanted to post what I wrote already before the chaos of unpacking begins, give you some clues about the ending. Also I wanted to post because of the new season! Who's excited? I know I am!**

**Now, I must include a disclaimer in this chapter because... well, there is a lot I have to "Disclaim."**

**Disclaimer: I never have owned Degrassi, Shugo Chara, Big Time Rush, or Jordin Sparks and I most likely never will. All I own are my own made up character and the plot.**

**Now that we got that over with, I hughly suggest that you listen to the song featured in this chapter and if you have a long car drive or something and access to Wifi, check out Shugo Chara, either the manga or anime. You woun't be disappointed with either! ... Wow, I sounded like a commercial... haha. **

**I had to add the song, because I felt it fit the two characters perfectly, if you think about the past and stuff. I found it very fitting.**

**I know Canada is on the metrics system, but I tried to convert inches to metric. Didn't work out well… Just a heads up for something in this part.**

**Minor OCC for Eli, but it's him being a grandfather.**

**(Also, I had to revise this, because I was looking at some of the older chapters and realized that i spelt Oliviera's name wrong this entire chapter. Whoops! Sorry!)**

**Long intro: Over! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Hey, Mom. Thanks so much for watching Oliviera," Julia thanked, picking up her four-year-old daughter from the couch. "With all of the work Brady's been doing for the CD and me studying for my master's, we haven't really had a lot of time for ourselves."

"So you both crashed on the couch when you made it back home?" Eli smirked.

"Bingo," Julia smirked back

"Mommy, me and grandma made cookies!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Julia asked, looking sternly down at her.

"Oh. Grandma and I made cookies," Oliviera corrected herself.

Julia kissed the top of her head. "Good girl."

Eli raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "Julia, although my job requires my major in journalism, I also minored in English, and I was never that hard on you."

"You're never too young to learn proper English," Julia scoffed, pointing to Clare. "And the other English major in the family forced good grammar down my throat."

Eli looked over at his wife quizzically. She shrugged her shoulders. "You're never too young to learn proper English."

"So that's..." she pretended to do math in her head, "two against one."

Oliviera eagerly raised her hand. "Three!"

"Three to one," Clare smirked. "Girls advantage. Proper English for the win."

Eli raised his hands defensively. "I don't have anything against proper English."

"Speaking of gender winnings, where's the two other guys of the family?" Julia asked, putting Oliviera down.

"Bryson's at your Aunt Fiona and Uncle Adam's house," Clare answered, putting some cookies in a baggy. "LA's barely come out of his room since that party. He's been locked in his room since May. He won't talk to me or your father. It worries me."

"He goes to work and practices, but comes straight home, grabs something to munch on, and goes straight to his room," Eli added, grabbing a cookie from the plate and taking a bite. "Delicious cookies, Cherry Cup," he complimented, ruffling his granddaughter's wavy, brown hair that fell halfway down her back in a high ponytail. She had two longer strands that went to her waist in separate holders with pink balls that clanked together when she moved.

She gave him a toothy grin, holding the end of her pink and black dress down in excitement. "Thank you, Grandpa!"

"Have I told you how much Brady hates that nickname of hers?" Julia reminded, taking the cookie filled baggy.

"Hey, when he finds his granddaughter in the kitchen covered in cherry juice and three empty cherry jars around the floor, then he can call her whatever he wants," he teased. "Right, Cherry Cup?"

"Right!" she exclaimed.

Julia sighed, smiling at the bond between her dad and daughter. But what was going on with her brother was bothering her. "Hey, honey?"

"Yes, Mommy?"

"Do you mind staying down here with your grandparents a little longer?"

Oliviera looked up at her mom with sad, ice blue eyes. "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to have a talk with your Uncle LA," Julia assured her.

Oliviera gave her mom a smile. "Okay, Okaasan!"

Eli and Clare gave Julia a weird look. "Okaasan?"

"It means "Mom" in Japanese when you're talking to her," the little girl explained.

Julia held a nervous smile. "You're never too young to know some Japanese culture. Ha... hee..." She tried to act cool, but soon gave up her show. "I'm going to go... talk to my brother now..."

"Yeah," Eli smirked, watching Julia run away from the conversation and up the stairs.

"Terekusai," Oliviera frowned, shaking her head. (1)

"Totemo," Eli agreed. (2)

"Can we please speak English?" Clare exclaimed.

**… … …**

"LA?" Julia called into his room, opening his door and giving a few knocks. The first thing she noticed was the mess: there wasn't one. His room was always messy with clothes and papers spread over the floor. But there wasn't a speck of dirt in site. His dressers and desks had been dusted and it looked like his carpet was vacuumed.

The one thing that was a mess was the seventeen-year-old boy lying face down on his well-made bed.

"Dude, what happened in here?" Julia asked, shutting the door. "Did the clean police finally come see the natural disaster that was your room?"

Instead of the usual snide comment, LA let out a heavy sigh into his pillow.

Julia sat down on his bed and started to rub his back with her right hand. "Dude, you gotta let her go."

He lifted his head, giving his sister the most terrible scowl he could muster, then slammed his head back down onto the pillow. "Just leave me alone."

"LA, I know what this is about."

"Oh, please, oh wise one, tell me what this depression is about," he spat, glaring at his sister.

"You didn't really love Kari."

LA jumped up, lunging himself at his sister. He had her shoulders pinned to the floor.

"Seriously? You're seventeen. I'm twenty-one. Childish much?" she complained, grabbing onto his arms. "Besides, you're only, what, two inches taller and ten pounds heavier than me? You're not hurting me, string bean!"

"It's not about hurting up," he answered through his teeth. "I loved her, Julia. You don't realize how it feels to get your heart broken. You've been with Brady your whole life. Well, I'll let you in on it: it's terrible. You feel worthless, like you're not good enough anymore. And you want to what's worse: she thought I was in love with my best friend." He took a pause, catching his breath. "I love her more than everything, more than sports, more than my friends, more than Ca…"

"Would you die for her?" Julia interrupted, putting a serious look on her face. LA was taken aback. His face softened, letting the tears fall from his cheek onto Julia's. "Would you take a knife, a bullet for her?" LA couldn't answer, didn't answer. "That's the difference. I would take would take any projectile for Brady and I know he would do the same. Dad almost did take a knife for mom."

He looked stunned. "What?"

"Calissa's dad almost stabbed our Dad at a school dance." At this point, Julia was trying to hold back tears, too. "That's love, LA: when you would rather die just to save them. If you can't bring yourself to do that, it isn't true love."

LA remained frozen, still pinned on top of his sister. It was almost if he was paralyzed by what she said.

"I don't know if you remember this, you were almost asleep. You were ten, I was fourteen. Bryson was kicking so hard that I couldn't sleep. So I went down stairs to watch some TV. When I got to the living room, I found you asleep on the couch with an old rerun of that one family that had, like, twenty kids on the TV. I nudged you a little, getting you to move so I could sit down. You woke up and we started watching the show. You were falling asleep, leaning on my shoulder, eyes shut, and joking around, I say, 'If those were your kids, they'd be pretty screwed up.' And do you know you're reply?" A small smile appeared on her face. "You said, 'They'd be part Calissa, so they couldn't be all bad.'"

LA still held the dazed look on his face. "I… I remember that…"

"Answer me," she whispered, "would you take a bullet for Calissa?"

Julia could hear his inhale and exhale of breath as he was thinking. She knew she got to him. He lifted himself off of her, then picked up his sister. "Thanks, Julia."

She smirked, ruffling his hair. "Anytime, Little Bro." She started walk towards the door. "I better get going. Oliviera's probably driving Mom and Dad crazy."

"Yeah, you're little bundle of joy," he teased, tussling his messed hair. Julia was about to close the door, when he yelled, "Wait!" Julia stopped, looking back. "I would."

"You would what?"

He smiled. "I'd take a bullet for Calissa."

* * *

"No!"

"Eli!"

"Clare!"

"Come on, Eli. I already promised we'd chaperone," Clare begged. She tugged on his shirt sleeve. "Besides, Ms. Dawes wants to see how one of her favorite students is."

He raised an eyebrow, softening his expression at the mention of his favorite teacher from high school. "Ms. Dawes still works there?"

"She's LA's teacher."

"Doesn't she teach 11th grade?"

"Like I said: she's LA's teacher."

He nodded his head, remembering that his 12th grader wasn't the brightest bulb on the score board. "Ah… but my answer is still no."

Clare scoffed, sounding disappointed. "Eli…"

"No, Clare. I hated that place and I don't want to go back."

"Go where?" LA asked, walking through the door, dropping his jacket on the ground.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Goldsworthy," Calissa greeted, picking up LA's thrown jacket and placing it on the rack.

"Hello, Calissa," Eli greeted.

"Calissa, LA, are you going to the Senior Dance this Friday?" Clare asked.

"How do you know about that?" LA asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Cayden's co-president of the dance committee. I feel like a need to go, you know, for him," Calissa answered, adjusting her pink cardigan over her white tank top.

"I'm going," LA answered. He held a positive tone in his voice, which shocked his parents. LA never goes to any school functions.

"See, Eli? Your son is going! Why can't you?" Clare complained.

"What are you talking about?" LA asked, setting his math book on the table next to Calissa's stuff. They had a tutor session that afternoon.

"You're mother volunteered us to chaperone your dance," Eli exclaimed.

"Oh, that's cool," he shrugged, opening the book in front of him.

Eli stared at his son, confused. "You think it's 'Cool' if your parents chaperone your school dance… where all your friends will be… with your mom singing at the top of her lungs?"

"Hey!" Clare yelled.

"No one goes to school dances besides prom and homecoming," LA informed them, staring at the book. "So you guys could go naked for all I care…" He looked up. "Please don't."

"Then why are you going?" Calissa asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"Uh… Uh…" he stuttered. "I-It's my senior year. Thought I'd, you know, go for… memories… yeah, that's it!"

They knew better. They knew it was for Calissa, well, except Calissa. Clare and Eli exchanged looks that said, "Yeah. Sure. Okay. That's it."

Eli looked from his studying son to his wife, who was tapping her foot waiting for an answer. "Ugh," he groaned. "Fine. I'll go."

Clare smiled, then reached up to kiss his cheek. "That's a good boy."

"I'm not a dog, Clare."

"Sure, you're not, bug guy." She ruffled his hair.

"Don't forget to get a costume," Calissa reminded them, checking over a problem LA completed.

"Huh?" Clare and Eli raised an eyebrow, confused.

"It's a Halloween dance," LA tried not to laugh at his parent's confusion. "You have to wear a costume, student or chaperone."

They stared at the teenagers for a couple second before Eli groaned through his teeth, "You owe me big time."

**… … …**

"Clare, I feel ridiculous," Eli mumbled, standing in the corner.

"Eli, you don't look that bad," Clare tried to reassure him. She readjusted his cat ears.

"Where did you even think of these costumes?"

"I was reading to Oliviera one of her Japanese comic books…"

"Mangas," Eli corrected, remembering he once dabbled in the Japanese books.

"Mangas, and these were two of the characters," Clare finished. "Beside, you look hot."

Eli smirked. He was wearing a black collar jacket with black skinny jeans. On top of his head were two semi-dark blue cat ears. "No wonder this seemed familiar. I read this manga to Julia. Shugo Chara," he remembered. "I'm Ikuto and you're Utau."

"Utau?" Clare sounded out. She had on a black, short dress that puffed out at the bottom with long sleeves and thigh-high socks and black ankle lace flats. Her hair was pulled into two pony tails on the side of her head, the strands flowing only to her chin. On the back of the dress was a pair of small bat wings. "You know, she really seemed to like Ikuto," she seduced.

"He's her brother," Eli answered, unaffected.

She blushed, taking a step away from Eli. "Oh… well, thanks for the spoiler."

"No problem. Hey, look. There's LA." Eli pointed across the room.

"He finally made it," Clare mumbled. Eli and Clare had to leave earlier to help get ready, so they took Morty and let LA use Clare's car. Morty seemed fitting for the Halloween event.

LA led Calissa through the barely there crowd over to Cayden and Kari, the co-presidents of the dance committee and also DJs of the dance. He offered to give her a ride to the dance. He had on a Dead Hand shirt, black skinny jeans, black converse, a guitar pic necklace, black wrist bands, and a thumb ring with his curly hair straightened.

"Hey, guys," La greeted.

Cayden eyed his outfit up and down. "Dude, what are you?"

"The creepiest thing I know: my dad as a teenager."

"No offence, man, but that's your dad now, too," Cayden laughed, causing the other three to mimic him.

"Calissa, you look so pretty!" Kari exclaimed.

"Thanks!" Calissa smoothed out the puffy ends of her knee-length mint green dress. The dress has short, puffy sleeves with white lace edging and a white, lacy apron. On her feet where black flats and on her hands were white gloves. Her long, curly chocolate brown hair was pulled up in two a high pony tails that fell to her stomach, except two chin length pieces on both sides of her face and her straight eye length bangs. "You look good, too."

Both Cayden and Kari were dressed up for a masquerade with Cayden in a black tux and black mask and Kari in a long red dress and black mask. "Why, thank you."

"So is this the usual turn out?" La asked, noting the about twenty-five kids.

"Yep. I'm surprised they even have us do a dance," Kari groaned. Even though they broke up, LA and Kari were still good friends.

"I'm surprised they make us do karaoke," Cayden groaned also. "Everyone leaves when its time sing."

"Is that you're mom and dad?" Calissa pointed across the room to a guy in a cat ears and a woman in a short black dress.

"Oh, yeah. We talked to them while setting up," Cayden said. "Your mom looks hot."

LA punched his arm. "Dude, that's my mother!"

"A man can't have an opinion…"

"Not about my mom!"

"Why is your dad wearing cat ears?" Calissa whispered into his ear.

He sighed. "Oliviera broke them."

"Huh?"

"They're two characters of her favorite book," LA explained, blushing. "I've had to read her those books a million times."

"You're dad's looking really hot, too," Kari drooled, staring at Eli. "Even with the cat ears."

"Oh, come on!" LA whined.

"Dude, you just come from hot family: your mom, your dad, your sister," Cayden smirked, letting out a playful scoff. "Guess the hotness genes skip some people."

"Oh, ha, ha, very…" He raised an eyebrow, slowly turning away from his parents to the teenage boy behind him. "My sister?"

Cayden turned bright red as the two girls tried not to giggle. "Um… well… uh… Hey, is that Bryson?"

"Don't try to change…"

"No, seriously, LA," Calissa interrupted, putting her hand on his shoulder. She pointed to a little blonde boy running across the barren gym floor to Eli and Clare. "That's your brother."

"He's supposed to be with Julia and Brady."

"And there goes Oliviera," Kari laughed, watching the four-year-old attempt to run in a puffy white dress.

"What are they doing here?" LA squeaked, blushing from embarrassment.

"I'm guessing Julia and Brady brought them… and Ms. Dawes," Cayden laughed. Julia, Brady, and Ms. Dawes were walking through the entrance, apparently having a laugh.

"Shoot me now…" LA groaned.

"Oh, come on!" Kari smiled. "You've got some cute younger family members."

"Uncie LA!" Oliviera squealed, running as best as she could to the four. She drew the attention of everyone in the gym, all of the about three-five people.

Seeing her eager face, he crouched down and picked her up when she finally reached them. "Why, hello there," he greeted his excited niece. From being around Oliviera and Bryson a lot, LA got over his awkwardness around little kids. She kissed his cheek. The room went "Aww!"

"Uncie LA, do I look pretty?" Oliviera asked. She had on a mid-calf length, white, long sleeve, puffy dress on with a pink bow around her waist, which matched the pink wings attached to the back. Her hair was down and curled up at the ends. On her head, she wore a gold halo. "I'm El from Shugo Chara! Bryson's Yoru, and Mommy and Daddy are Rima and Nagihiko!"

"Yes, you do. So you kind of roped everyone into this costume design, huh?" he laughed.

"Everyone except you," she pointed out, then grumbled, "You would have made a good Kukai, too…"

He laughed at his niece before saying to his friends, "I'm going to see why this has turned into a family reunion."

"Hey, little bro. Dressed up as Dad, I see," Julia smirked, ruffling her hair when he made his way over to his family.

"The creepiest thing I know," he commented, setting Oliviera down on the ground.

"Hey!" Eli complained.

LA put on a small smile at his dad. "But anyway, why are you guys here?"

"We ran into Ms. Dawes in the grocery store and she asked us if we could be chaperones," Brady exclaimed. "And we already had costumes on for trick-or-treating with the kids, so we thought 'Why not?'"

LA stared at them with wide eyes. "Do you hate me?"

They laughed. "Come on, there's, like, no one here," Julia pointed out.

"Good point," LA mumbled as the song changed.

Oliviera squealed and ran over to Bryson, grabbing his hand. "I love this song! Dance with me, Uncy!"

"Why me?" he whined.

"Because you're the one closest to my height!"

Bryson sighed as Oliviera dragged him to the dance floor. Everyone laughed at them as Oliviera grabbed both of his hands and started to turn them. "That's so adorable," Clare pointed out.

**… … …**

Around eight thirty, the party really died down… well, basically stopped. There were four of the original around twenty five students left. And with thirty minutes left, it was time to bring out the ultimate party killer.

"You know, Degrassi dances sure have gotten suckier over the years," Clare said.

Eli let out a small scoff, smirking, and handed her a water bottle. "Not disagreeing on that point."

Kari interrupted, tapping the microphone. "And now we come to the… unfortunate part of the festivities."

"The karaoke time…" Cayden announced in a dull voice. "Any volunteers before the random selection?"

You could almost hear the sound a cricket's echo through the room.

"Okay, then." Kari smirked at Cayden, who smirked with her. "The two lucky people are… LA and Calissa."

They're eyes went wide. "Huh?"

"Guys, I can't sing. The singing gene went to Julia," he protested as Kari shoved him on stage.

"Cay, I really don't want to…" She was interrupted by Cayden shoving a microphone into each of their hands.

"We're going to take you back to the year 2011," Kari said.

"And an old Nick show," Cayden followed.

"Singing "Counting On You" by Big Time Rush featuring Jordan Sparks: LA and Calissa!" Kari introduced as the remaining people, who were mostly related to LA, started clapping.

"Guys, I really don't want to do this. And we can't even pick our own song? Guys, what the…" LA started to protest.

"Now, I'm about to give you my heart, but remember this one thing: I've never been in love before," Calissa started singing, looking towards the floor for the first lines, then lifting her head towards LA, giving him a scared look. "So you gotta go easy on me."

Seeing Calissa give in to the song, he could leave her alone up there. "I heard love is dangerous. Once you fall you never get enough. But the thought of you leaving ain't so easy for me."

"Don't hurt me. Desert me. Don't give up on me." With every word she sang, she took a tiny step towards him.

"What would I wanna do that for?" He matched her, step for step.

"Don't use me. Take advantage of me. Make me sorry I ever counted on you," she sang, now that they were face to face, inches apart. LA could have sworn he saw a tiny amount of water collecting in her eyes.

"1, 2, 3, 4 to the 5."

"Baby, I'm counting on you."  
"1, 2, 3, 4 to the 5."

"Baby, I'm counting on you."

"1, 2, 3, 4 to the 5."

"Baby, I'm counting on you."

"1, 2, 3, 4 to the 5."

"Baby, I'm counting on you. I really hope you understand," she reached out, grabbing his hand, but looking at his feet, "that if you wanna take my hand…"

"You should put yours over my heart." He took his fingers from the hand that had the microphone and put them under her chin, lifting her face to meet. "I promise to be careful from the start."

"I trust in you with love in me."

"Very, very carefully."

"Never been so vulnerable."

"Baby, I'll make you comfortable," they both sang, their lips mere inches apart.  
"Now I'm about to give you my heart so remember this one thing: I've never been in love before…"

He joined her for the finish. "Yeah, you gotta go easy on me."

The room turned into applause. The couple remained still, eye to eye, their lips so close to each other, yet not touching. A single tear fell down her cheek. LA wiped it away with his index finger, watching her still hold this scared look on her face. Before he could get his arm back to her hand, she took off, running off stage, her face hidden in the crook of her elbow.

"Damn it," he mumbled, chasing after her, shoving the microphone against Cayden chest as he flew pass.

"Well, that didn't go as planned," Cayden sighed, rubbing the back of his necklace.

"You think?" Kari slapped his chest.

"Calissa," LA yelled through the parking lot, where the tapping sound of her flats led him. "Calissa!" His voice echoed between the cars. After the echo faded, a faint sobbing sound hit LA's ears. It was coming from his mom's car a few spots over.

Once he made it to the car, he got in on driver's side and put the key in the ignition, turning on the car. Calissa just sat in the passenger seat, trying to hold back tears. When they pulled out of the parking lot, Calissa spoke in a soft, cracked voice. "Where are we going?"

"I figured you would want to go home," he answered, monotone in his voice. A couple minutes of silence passed before he got up the courage to ask, "What's wrong?"

Silence.

"I know when something's wrong, and something's wrong. So what's wrong?" **(AN: That's like me, adding in a Digimon quote during a serious time)**

He got a tiny giggled out of her before she turned back to trying to contain her tears.

"Calissa, you can tell me. I'm your best friend."

"I'm scared, okay?" she yelled, letting the dam burst. LA was startled by the sudden outburst. "I'm scared…"

"Of what?"

She sniffed, thinking over her answer. "Of love… and trusting…" She felt the car make a left turn as she watched the tears put wet stains on her dress. "You know what my father did. I loved him, LA. I trusted him… and look what he did…"

"That doesn't mean everyone is going to be liked that," he tried to reassure.

"I've never been in love. I don't understand the concept." She took in a deep breath. "I've dealt with a lot of stuff and… I don't know if I could trust anyone to love me."

LA's took his gaze from the room to his crying best friend. "Calissa, when have I ever hurt you? When have I let you down?" She lifted her head to see his intense, caring stare. "Now why would you think you couldn't trust me?"

She blushed. "Who said I was talking about you?"

After turning his head back to the road, he raised an eyebrow, smirking, "Because all of this is coming up after we sang a romantic song. The evidence is there, Calissa."

Her blushed turned even more. "I guess you remembered what we said when we were twelve."

"I waited," he smiled. "And you don't have to be scared." He looked over at her. "You have me."

As he turned his head back to the road, a white light of headlights hit both of their eyes. He slammed on the brakes, but they weren't stopping. Before the sound of braking glass and crunching metal overtook the car, four words rang out…

"Calissa, I love you!"

* * *

**(1) Roughly, it means "awkward" in Japanese**

**(2) Means "Very" in Japanese**

**And now you all hate me. I know you do. I left you with a cliffhanger! **

**But I'm really excited that I finally figured out Oliveria personality! You don't realize how much I thought over that! The Japanese obession definatly comes from my brain.**

**And now that I found out the name and sex of Jenna and KC's baby, I can start working on my two new stories. I'm leaning more towards "The Benders" being published first, because I've been watching a lot of shows with super powers and magic and such, which have given me some ideas. So yeah. Look for that. I'll probably post that next month or so.**

**Part two is coming up! There will be family moment, sad things, EClare cuteness, a shocking discovery for Julia and Brady (no, not another kid. I know what you were thinking), and a touching confession! And also the return of an old character! I'll give you a hint: it's Brookie!**

**Thanks for Readding! Review!**


	18. The Finale: Part 2

**Hey, People!**

**So I go back to school on the 15th, so I wanted to update before then, and I knew with the plotline for Julia, Brady, and Oliviera, I wouldn't be able to to give you an update. So instead of three, it's going to be four, at the most, because I want LA's graduation to have it's own chapter. Yeah! More Chapters!**

**So this chapter is mostly LA centered, with a touching moment between Eli and an old friend. **

**As I said before, I'm starting school in about a week. I'm going into the ninth grade at a uniform public school, meaning I'm starting high school. Can anyone give me some advice for high school? I'm going to need it. Haha!**

**Enough of my rambling. Enjoy!**

* * *

Clare ran into the hospital in hysterics, leaving Eli, Julia, and Brady running to catch up. "Adam Goldsworthy?" she asked, panting and showing her driver's license to the lady at the front desk. "I'm his mom. Now what happened?"

"Mrs. Goldsworthy?" Calissa cried, sitting in the waiting room. Her arms and legs were covered in scratches and bruises, along with her flushed face. Her eyes were red from crying, almost matching the stains on her dress. Cayden was hugging her, trying to get her to stop shaking.

"Calissa, what happened?" Eli said, his voice sounding sterner than he would have liked it to be.

She sniffed. "A drunk driver switched into our lane. The brakes weren't working… We couldn't stop…" She started to cry again. "H-He threw himself over me before the car hit us. He saved my life."

Julia felt tears rise as she whispered to herself, "He didn't lie to me." Through the sadness, she felt proud of her brother.

"Goldsworthy family?" A man in a white lab coat came into the room holding a clipboard.

Clare, with Eli holding on to her shoulders for comfort, asked, "How's my son?"

"Well, you're son is very lucky. The injuries could have been much, much worse," he answered, emotionless. Readjusting is glasses, he read from the clipboard. "Along with a mild concussion, it appears the impact broke one of his ribs and cracked two others. Particles from the break are floating around and could possibly puncture one of his lungs, cutting off his breathing."

Clare's breathing became known to everyone as she tried to fight the urge to realize tears. Eli squeezed her shoulders tighter, trying to comfort her.

"There is a lot of bruising and cuts to his back as well." He finally took his eyes away from the clipboard and faced the concerned parents. "Recovery is going to take a while. I'm looking at around six weeks. We have him on some pain killers. Now we're going to keep him for the week and see how it goes from there."

"Okay," Clare choked out. "Thank you, Doctor."

Once the doctor was out of earshot, Julia crossed her arms and scoffed, "Did you hear the monotone in his voice? It's like he didn't even care."

Brady nodded, only half paying attention to his wife. He looked around the room. Eli had Clare wrapped in his arms, letting her cry on his shoulder. Cayden was doing the same for his sister. Only Julia seemed unaffected. "I know you want to," he murmured.

"Not now, Brady. My brother just…"

"Not that!" he squeaked, giving her an 'Are You Crazy?' look. He sat down next to her and rubbed circles into her back. "You don't have to hold it in. The tough front isn't needed."

She stared at him with a blank expression until a tear fell down her cheek. "Why him?" she exclaimed, catching everyone's attention. She fell onto Brady, bawling. "Why did this happen to him? He's never done anything to deserve this! He's a sweet kid with a heart of gold! He doesn't deserve this!" She took a moment to recollect her breath. "He's my little brother…" she cried into his shirt.

The room was silent after her outburst. Everyone was stunned. Julia was usually the rock, the one that held it together during bad situations. Her breaking down was shocking for them all.

She looked up at her dad, her cheeks stained with makeup and tears. "He's gonna make it, right, Daddy?"

All eyes turned to Eli. He was trying to keep a serious face, but he cracked at the word 'Daddy'. She hadn't called him that since she was little. His face held a look of concern and sadness. "W-Why would you ask that, Julia?"

"Did you not hear the man? LA has particles of his ribs floating around and could puncture his lungs!" she yelled. "He could die!"

Everyone in the waiting room was staring at Eli, waiting for his response. But Eli wasn't paying attention. Flashbacks were popping up in his head… of Julia, back when he was a teenager. All of those memories, hitting him like a brick. When his head finally cleared, he looked at his saddened daughter. "Y-Yeah. He's going to be fine, Jules."

"Eli, are you okay?" Clare asked, seeing the distance stare he had in his eyes.

He rested his hand on her upper arms. "I'll be right back," he said, before walking out with his hands in his pockets.

"Great. Now I made Dad upset," was the last thing he heard before the sliding doors shut.

He calmly walked to Morty, as if nothing happened. He slid into the driver's seat and shut the door. Just as everything seemed normal, he slammed his head onto the steering wheel. "I can't lose another one." He couldn't help thinking that this was not very like him. Eli Goldsworthy wasn't one to freak out about this type of stuff… recently…

"You're not going to," a voice said in a stern, yet caring tone.

"And you know this how…?" He asked, keeping his eyes on Morty's dashboard.

"Trust me. It's not his time, Eli," the voice said. Eli felt a hand on his back.

He sighed, leaning back upright to properly talk to the passenger. "How would you possibly know…" His eyes opened a little wider. "J-Julia?"

She smiled, reaching over to fix a loose bang that fell over his eyes. "You still have the same hair as when you were a teenager," she giggled, stretching out. "Oh, I miss this old hearse." Her laughter soon died, giving her a concerned look. "Eli, are you okay?"

He just stared at her, eyes wide, mouth slightly opening, staring. "Y-Y-You're dead…"

"Um, yeah. Yes, I am."

He quickly patted his arms, legs, and torso. "Am I dead? Did someone come up to Morty and shoot me?"

Julia couldn't help but laugh. "No, Eli. You're very much alive."

"Then what the hell is going on?" he exclaimed.

She sighed, throwing her hands behind her head. "You just have to trust me. LA's not going anywhere." Their eyes locked as she turned her head from Morty's roof to Eli. "He's going to live."

He just looked at her stunned, barely able to speak. "How do you know this?"

"I watch over you guys, in a ghost like way…"

"So you haunt us?" he smirked.

She scoffed, smacking his arm. "Watch over, not haunt."

"Sure, sure," he continued to smirk. He seemed to be more comfortable talking to a dead person than before.

"Hey, you were my first love and you named your daughter after me. I feel obliged to." She stuck out her tongue flirtingly at him. "Anyway, I'm a ghost, a nice ghost, but a ghost. I know things. Your son is going to be fine… unless he's tackled… or moves the wrong way…"

His eyes narrowed in a sarcastic way. "Very comforting."

"In the job description," she self-praised herself, patting her shoulder.

"Thanks, though."

She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "You looked like you were having a rough moment. I thought I could help."

"A rough moment?" he asked. "Where were you when Julia was fourteen? I had a lot of rough moments there."

Julia smirked, folding her arms in a know-it-all way. "With Julia. Who do you think convinced her to go home?"

"You talk to Julia?"

She held up her index finger. "Once. I talked to her once. I don't like to interfere with you guys. You need to live your life without knowing what's ahead. But sometimes," she gave him a small smile, "Goldsworthys need a push to get going." She added in a pushing motion.

She scoffed playfully. "Same old Julia. Death didn't really add depression to you, did it?"

"Not really. You would think it would," she shook her head. "Actually, I've been pretty good. I finished my education at Degrassi, sitting in all of your classes."

"Well, that makes me feel stalked," Eli interrupted.

Julia smiled, scoffed, and shoved him. "I swear, your daughter is the girl version of you. She said that, too! Ugh!" Eli laughed at her, causing her to laugh, too. "Anyway, back to my story. I've met some ghosts roaming the halls. Did you know Degrassi had a shooting a couple of years before you came?"

"Um, yeah."

"I met that kid, the shooter. Nice kid, little crazy." She gave the 'so-so' hand motion.

"Only Julia would think that a shooter was a nice kid…" he smirked, amused.

She stared at him, slowly shaking her head. "Shut up. Also, there was a boy who was stabbed a couple years before. You know the memorial? That's his. He came back the school every so often. He was funny, kind of cute in a way. Try not to be jealous."

"I'll try not to be jealous of a dead guy," he joked.

"And then I watched your soap opera of a life, with a few vacations. Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Brasilia," she said with a Spanish accent, snapping her fingers with one pointing up and the other pointing to her other arm.

"The main language is Portuguese in Brazil, yet you said that with a Spanish accent."

"Details, details," she waved off.

"Language is part of a country's culture. You just upset almost the entire population of Brazil."

"Okay, I'm sorry, people of Brazil," she apologized. "But honestly, dying wasn't as bad as I thought. I mean, I don't have to eat, so I won't get fat. I don't have to deal with the annoying, alive people. I even got to meet Kurt Cobain."

"Wow. You make dying sound so fun," he joked. "Sounds like you have a good life- err- death."

"I guess." She bit her lip and looked out of the passenger window. Clare was running over, holding a concerned look on her face. Julia sighed. "It's time to go."

Eli looked out at his wife, nodding. "Yeah."

Julia leaned over, hugging him. "Remember, he's going to be fine," she whispered into his ear. Cupping his face in her hands, she kissed his cheek, shocking Eli. "Clare needs you. Your family needs you. Be The Rock! Well, not Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, but you know what I mean." She smiled as she faded away. "Goodbye, Eli."

He smiled. "Bye, Julia."

"Are you okay?" Clare asked, sliding into the seat Julia was just sitting in. "You bolted off back there. I was worried."

Without thinking, Eli pulled Clare in, giving her deep, romantic kiss. "I'm sorry. I just had to… deal with some things."

She gave him a gentle smile. "I understand. But you might want to go back inside. Julia thinks she upset you."

Eli let out a small laugh as they both got out of Morty. "No. Just some stuff came to mind. But I had a nice chat with… my ghost."

Eli smirked as his wife's eyebrow rose at his statement. He wrapped his arm around her and they walked back into the waiting in that position.

* * *

"LA, take it easy," Clare gently commanded, watching LA sitting up as she brought out a bowl of his favorite soup to the couch.

"Mom, it's just sitting," LA groaned in pain, rubbing his sleepy eyes. He took the bowl from his mom. "Not jazzercising." Slurping from his spoon, he smiled at the taste. "Yum. Always good homemade. Thanks, Mom."

Clare smiled back her son. "No problem. Anything to help my little superstar feel better." She ruffled his tangled auburn hair.

Since the accident a week and a half before, basically, what you see is what you get. His chest was really hurting him. The medication he was supposed to take made him sleepy. So all LA did was sleep, eat, and sometimes throw in some TV with it. He's been a homebody, mostly because Clare barely lets him off the couch.

As LA took another spoon full, Clare started to push his curly bands from his eyes, giving him the most caring look she could muster. LA looked up through his bangs. "What are you doing?"

Clare just starred, smiling at her teenager. "Oh, nothing."

"Mom, you're starting to get a little creepy."

"Oh, LA, it's just… you're my baby boy, my first son." She moved his bangs again, letting him see her emotional face. "And when I got that call about the accident, I was terrified. I thought I had lost you. Then the doctor said that you were okay, I felt… relieved. LA, you don't understand how the thought of losing you terrifies me." LA saw a tear fall on her cheek.

"Oh, Mom," he whined, grimacing. "Don't cry, Mom. J-Just don't… cry, Mom. I'm okay. I'm alive. You're not losing me."

She tried to laugh at her son as she wiped her cheek. "I know, but I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Mom. You're my mother. You gave me life. I appreciate that."

The laugh she tried to give out came out at that remark. "I think your father is starting to rub off on you."

A knock came from the door.

"I thought you guys made a deal or something. Dad gets Julia and you get me," he joked, mentioning how he looks nothing like their dad and Julia looks nothing like their mother. "I have to say: you got the better end of that deal."

Clare laughed at her son, shaking her head, before opening the door. Mayson stood on the porch, holding a stack of books and binders. "Good evening, Mrs. Goldsworthy," he greeted.

"Hello to you, too, Mayson," Clare tried to be polite, but her tone was questioning. She reached over, grabbing for the stack in the boy's arms. "I assume these are for LA?"

"You would assume right," he answered, shutting the door behind him. He took off his shoes and jacket before going to the living room. "Hey, dude. Feeling any better?"

"Ehh, I guess," LA said. He put his bowl next to Mayson on the coffee table. "Honestly, I didn't expect to see you. If they had homework for me, why didn't they send Calissa or Cayden?"

Mayson sighed, "I don't how to tell you this, knowing your feelings for her and all…"

LA lunged up from his seated position, grabbing Mayson by his collar. "What is going on with Calissa? Tell me or I swear to god, I'll…"

"LA!" Clare interrupted, gently pushing LA back down on the couch. His realization of the pain he was in was known to everyone in the room. "LA Skylar Goldsworthy, what have I told you about sudden movements?"

LA just held a scowl on his face as Mayson looked at him with a questioning look. "Skylar?"

"Never mind my girly middle name! What is happening with Calissa?" LA yelled.

"Well…"

_Flashback:_

_"Calissa, everything is fine now. LA's going to be okay," Cayden tried to calm her down before entering the lunch room. It was the Monday after the dance and the crash. Everyone in the school had found out._

_"I've been getting glares all day, Cayden. All day," Calissa whispered, looking down at her feet. "Who know what they'll do now. I don't want to go in."_

_"Calissa, you have us," Kari comforted her, throwing her arm over her shoulder. "If anyone says or does something mean, we can sick your big brother on them."_

_Cayden rolled his eyes, smirking at the girls. He held the cafeteria door open for the girls as Kari pushed a reluctant Calissa in. The cafeteria became silent. All eyes went on the three of them._

_"I didn't think it would be this bad," Kari whispered to Cayden, keeping her eyes in the direction of everyone else._

_"Nope. Thought she was just exaggerating," Cayden did the same._

_Calissa squeaked, staring at the ground. "Just don't pay attention. We should be okay." Calissa starting walking ahead, leaving her brother and Kari behind._

_"Ehh," Cayden sighed, running to catch up with her._

_By the time he did, she was already sitting down in the silence of the cafeteria, picking up a grape and popping it in her mouth. She stared at her grapes as she ate, not paying attention. Until…_

_"You can quit staring," Calissa speaks up. "I know you are."_

_Cayden and Kari stare at her with a shocked expression. First she doesn't want to even be scene and now she was speaking out the whole cafeteria. They both wondered what was going on in her head._

_"Well, how can we?" A blonde in a cheerleading uniform spoke up. "You're the reason LA got hurt."_

_Kari noticed Calissa's hand tighten around her fork, turning her knuckles white. "Sandra…" she warned._

_"If you didn't make a move on LA in his car, he wouldn't have collided with that car," Sandra yelled, standing up from her seat and slamming her hands on the table. "He broke bones and you walk away with bruises and scares? This is all your fault."_

_Calissa's eyes widened at the false statement._

_"Now how are we going to win the championship without our star quarterback?" a big meat head in a Panthers jersey spoke up._

_"You guys are so out of line," Cayden shot at them._

_"Well, it's true!" Sandra growl._

_"ENOUGH!" Calissa screamed out, slamming her hands even harder on the table as she stood up. Her eyes were filling with tears. Her voice returned to a soft whisper. "You're completely wrong. Everything you said." Her head turned towards Sandra as she got louder. "LA is a nice, sweet guy, my best friend! I would never even think about coming on to him, especially while he's driving! Do you know how dangerous that is? He was taking me home, because he knew I was upset about something that happened that's none of your concern! LA's like a brother to me, almost as much of a brother that Cayden is!"_

_A murmur of confusion rang out through the cafeteria._

_"Seriously?" Cayden asked. "We've been here since third grade and none of you picked up that we were twins? I know my sister isn't the most popular girl in school, but come on! We have the same hair color, same eye color, same last name! That's just pitiful…" He shook his head, turning to his sister. "Continue."_

_"Thanks. And you!" She pointed to the football player. "You sicken me the most! LA's fucking rib was so close to his fucking lung that just the slightest move could puncture it and fucking kill him!" She started shaking her head, giving him a look of disappointment. "And you're worried about your championship…"_

_Everyone was stunned at Miss Good Girl Calissa's outburst. She was the last person anyone would have suspected to do something like that. Even the teachers present couldn't speak to punish her for her language._

_"Calissa…" Cayden started, reaching his arm out to his sister. He saw the tears push through her cold stance. Without warning, she ran out of the cafeteria, arm covering her eyes, leaving all of her stuff behind. "Calissa!" he called after her, running to catch up with her._

_The room went up in a murmur. Kari frantically gathered Calissa's stuff and headed for the door, after the twins._

_End Flashback_

"Cayden and Kari came back alone after about ten minutes. They couldn't find her. Calissa skipped the rest of the day and came back Friday with the threat of not graduating if she missed anymore days.. She won't talk to Cayden, Kari, no one. Cayden's starting to get pretty scared," Mayson finished, not able to look at the depressed eyes of LA's.

"It's all my fault…" LA whispered.

"Oh, LA," Clare tried to comfort her son, wrapping her arms around him and rubbing his arm.

"I'm going back," he announced. "Tomorrow. I have to make sure she's okay."

"Like hell you are," Clare groaned. "You need to get better. The doctor said two weeks."

"I'm almost there!" He exclaimed, pushing her away. "I think we can forget two days."

"LA, you are not going to school and that is final," she put her foot down. She seemed pretty determined. Fixing herself from her outburst, she calmly asked, "Now, Mayson, would you like something to drink?"

"Uh… N-No, thank you. I have to get back to football practice," he turned his head to LA. "Coach sends his best regards."

La raised an eyebrow. "O…kay? Tell him I said hey…" With a head nod and a good-bye to Clare, Mayson headed back to practice. LA went back to watching TV, but couldn't get Calissa out of his mind. He looked over at his mom, walking back into the room with a drink. Shaking his head slightly, he decided that he didn't care what she said. He was going to go to school and find Calissa.

**… … …**

Waking up early, he went and turned off his parent's alarm clock and went and got dressed. The uniform was abolished long before LA entered high school. After performing the hygiene process of getting ready for school, he threw on some comfortable jeans (not too tight that it were skinny jeans, but just tight enough that he didn't need a belt) and a blue Aeropostale tee. Grabbing his backpack off his doorknob, he ran over to his little brother's room.

"Bryson, wake up," he whispered, shaking him.

"Huh?" Bryson murmured, rubbing his sleepy eye. "LA, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking you to school today," LA announced, opening his shades, letting light into the room. Bryson groaned in protest. "Get dressed, do your morning school ritual, I'll have breakfast done in twenty minutes. Got it?"

"Where's Mom or Dad?" he asked, picking up a pair of socks.

"They're asleep. Don't wake them up," he instructed from the door frame. "Now, hurry up, we both have to get to school."

"I thought you weren't allowed to go," Bryson said.

LA bit his lower lip. "I'm not, but something big came up that I have to go."

"Calissa?" Bryson smirked, raising an eyebrow.

LA gives him a soft smile. "You read me too well, kid. Now hurry up." Walking down the stairs, he heard his brother, slamming a drawer shut. "Yeah, that's quiet," he muttered. When he got to the kitchen, he went directly for the pancake mix. After several minutes, perfectly round, small ovals were presented on the table with two cups of maple syrup. LA started to dig in, waiting for Bryson, who came running down the stairs a few minutes later. "I said be quiet."

"I'm sorry," Bryson whispered, taking a seat. He reached for a pancake and dipped it in the syrup. His face lit up on his first bite. "Dude, where did you get these?"

LA raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I made them."

Bryson continued to stare at his mini pancake. "These are too amazing to be made by you."

"Dude, they're not boobs. Don't stare," he said to his seven-year-old brother.

Bryson ignored him, scarfing down five more. LA finished and started to clean up the kitchen. Once Bryson brought over his cup and the empty plate, LA told him go brush his teeth and get his book bag. Not wanting to go back upstairs, LA had brought his toothbrush and toothpaste down with him and started to brush his teeth in the kitchen sink.

He slipped on his slip on shoes (bought especially so he wouldn't have to tie his shoes) just as Bryson ran down the steps. Grabbing Morty's key off the hook, he ushered his brother out of the house, locking the door behind him.

"But you've never driven Morty," Bryson pointed out.

LA turned the key in the ignition, starting the engine. He starting to back up, he simply answered, "Never a better time to learn."

Cautiously, LA pulled onto the street and drove Bryson to school. Before he slammed the door, Bryson called in, "You do realize you're going to be killed: by Dad for taking Morty and by Mom for going to school."

"Tell me something I don't know," LA grumbled. Bryson stuck out his tongue and slammed the door shut.

After a careful drive, LA finally made it to the parking lot, getting a lot of attention for his transportation of choice. Once he found a parking spot, he pulled out his phone, dialed star 67, and called the house phone. At the third ring, he heard his mother fake awake voice answer, then hung up. He just wanted to make sure his parents were away, seeing as he turned their alarm clock off.

He sighed, pushing the slight pain he's had since he woke up from his mind. Grabbing his backpack, he threw his door open, and walked to the school, avoiding the eyes of the students who were wondering why LA Goldsworthy would show up driving a hearse.

LA limped up the stairs and pushed through the doors. Kari was talking with her cheerleader friends to his right. Cayden was talking to the hockey team on his left. He didn't know who to ask. Kari was a girl, so Calissa may feel more comfortable talking to another female, but she's known Cayden her whole life. His choice was made for him when Kari blurted out his name.

"LA?"

Cayden's head shot over to LA. Both excused themselves to go over to LA. "Dude, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to go back to school until next week at the least."

"Where's Calissa?" LA asked, ignoring everything Cayden had just said.

"Um, computer lab," Kari answered, pointing towards the lab.

Pushing passed them, he ran as best as he could towards the computer lab, ignoring Cayden and Kari calling out his name.

Opening the doors, he immediately saw her. Her long brunette hair that fell to the yoga ball in delicate curls seemed to lack the sheen it normally had. Her clothes, while still her favorite color, pink, seemed just thrown on, not even caring if they looked right, which they did. She had on knee-length hot pink shorts, a light pink over shirt with the sleeves halfway down her arms, and a white tank top underneath. In her hair were two hot pink hair clips on each side, holding two longer strands in front higher than the rest.

"Calissa," LA called into the room.

Her hands stopped their furious typing. She slowly turned her head. "A-Adam?"

"It's 'LA' in public," he joked, walking towards her. The door shut behind him, sealing just the two of them in. "Now do you care to tell me what's been going on in that pretty head of yours?"

She seemed… scarred. Her eyes were wide, whereas LA's were calm yet worried. He took a step towards her, only to have her jump up from the yoga ball.

"LA…" was all she seemed able to say.

"Calissa, w-what's going on?" his voice shook as he reached out for her.

She looked down, clenching her fist. "Stay away…" she whispered.

LA's face fell, his eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not good for you, LA," she whispered. He watched a tear fall to the floor. "Everything that's put you in harm's way or has gotten you hurt… is because of me." Their eyes locked: hers filled with tears, his with disappointment. She yelled, "It's all my fault, LA! Everything is my fault!"

"That's not what you said before," he breathed, shocked by Calissa's reaction to him.

"Forget that!" she screamed, ignoring how he knew that information. "You were hurt because of me. I'm not letting happen again!" She picked up her bag. "I'll find you a new tutor. I'll stay out of your life. Everything will be how it was supposed to without my misfortune."

"But I don't want you out of my life!" He threw back, upset, but not angry.

She wiped her eyes. "I don't want to lose you, either, LA, but I'm doing this for you, to keep you out of my miserable life and away from the dangers of me." She head towards the other exit, not looking back. "Goodbye, Adam."

She was gone. She walked out of the lab, leaving behind a broken teenage boy. LA breathed heavily, trying to take everything in. He collapsed to his knees, neglecting the physical pain coursing through his body. All of the real pain now was in his heart. He was heart-broken.

**… … …**

"Where were you?" Clare yelled, hands on her hips, as LA walked through the door at 8:15, ten minutes after school has started.

He hung up Morty's keys. "I went to school. Don't worry. I woke up Bryson, made breakfast, and took him to school, too. And don't worry, Dad. I didn't crash Morty," he answer, monotone.

"We're not worried about that," Clare said, a little calmer than before.

Eli slowly raised his hand. "Well, I-I kind of was."

Clare gave her husband the 'Are You Mentally Ill?' look. "Not now!"

"Listen, Mom, I realized that you were right. I wasn't ready to face the truth," he answered in the same tone as before. His facial expressions hadn't changed since he entered. "I made you and Dad some pancakes. They're in the microwave."

Eli raised an eyebrow, but ran to the microwave. A stack of four pancakes were inside. "Wow. These looks good."

"Thanks," LA sighed.

Clare looked back and forth between her son and her husband. "This is not the issue at hand! LA was not giving medical permission to go back and he snuck out!"

"Mom, I had a reason," he started.

"There are no excuses with your health. You had me so worried."

He stared at the floor. "I'm sorry, Mom, but Calissa's a little more important to me than my health."

"You went to see her?"

"Don't worry about it. She said…" He swallowed the lump building in his throat. "She's staying away from me… for my own protection." He scoffed, "She thinks everything is her fault and she doesn't want me getting hurt again." Clare and Eli saw water building in their son's eyes. "Yeah, protecting me, my ass…" He didn't even care he used inappropriate language in front of his parents, something Clare has never appreciated from her kids. "If you don't mind, I think I'm going to go to bed." With that, he walked up the stairs to his room.

Eli and Clare stared at each. "I've never seen him that upset, not even about Kari."

Eli sighed. "This is bad. He's loved her since they were little." He stared at the stack of pancakes on the table. "Can you get me the syrup and fork?"

She slapped him upside the head. "What's wrong with you? Your son is breaking down and you're worried about pancakes?" She went over to the fridge and cabinet, pulling out the syrup, two forks, and another plate. "We're discussing this over breakfast," she decided, slamming down the syrup. She used her fork to lift two of the pancakes from his plate to hers. "They're not all yours, you know."

* * *

**And there you go. Part Two. I bet some of you hate me now. I would not be surprised.**

**Well, I know I told you Brookie was coming back this chapter. Yeah, I thought I would get farther than I did, so... sorry, Brookie-lovers. ****Also, I kinda based LA's injuries on Andy Beirsack's that he got in June, so if any Black Veil Brides fans thought that sounded firmilar, that's probably where. And anyone who has any advice for an upcoming ninth grader, it would be much appriciated! **

**Part Three will have a lot of the Lancaster family, so look forward to that!**

**Thanks For Reading!**


	19. The Finale: Part 3

**Hello, My Lovely Readers and Welcome to the Finale part 3!**

**This took me forever to write! I haven't posted since the begining of August so I wanted to get this out. I feel like my story line is very good, but my writing is a little choppy. I aplogize for that ahead of time. **

**Also this chapter was just supposed to be Brady, Julia, and Eli, but I thought of another LA storyline and you are probably going to hate me for it. But this is my longest chapter! 13 pages and 9,749 words! Booyah!**

**I would like to give a HUGE thanks to WearMyWingsProud1298, one of my best friends in real life who edited my story when it was on my iPod! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! If there are any errors, don't blame me! haha No, you can blame me for that...**

**Anyway, after a long time, ENJOY! (I'm really excited for you guys to read this, if you can't tell)**

* * *

"Oh, Brady!" Julia yelled sweetly as he walked through the door.

The way she said it sent shivers down his spine. He could see the smirk she had on her face before he even walked into the living room. He kissed her head and sat next to her on the couch. "Yes?"

"You have a letter," she smirked, holding it between her index and middle finger.

"Who sends letter mail anymore?" he asked, tearing through the top of the envelope. (AN: Remember, it's around 2033 now. Time flies, doesn't it?)

"Your grandparents," Julia answered, snuggling up next to Brady as he read the letter.

"They're still alive?"

"They're only sixty-seven and sixty-nine," she pointed out.

He ignored that comment and continued to read the letter. "Wow…"

"Wow what?" she exclaimed, grabbing the letter. She murmured, speed reading. "They want to come to the family reunion in Florida?"

Brady nodded, puffing out his cheeks.

"That's attractive," Julia smirked.

He exhaled loudly, glaring at his wife. "Ha ha."

"Well…" She clapped, standing up from the couch. "I better make arrangements: plane tickets, packing…"

"Wait, what do you mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you want to walk to Florida naked?" Julia giggled, heading for the computer.

"Julia, we're not going," he said.

She put her hands on her hips. "And why not?"

He sighed, placing his head in his hands. "I would rather not see a family that just let my parents abandon me."

Julia's crossed her arms. "And what about Oliviera? Don't you think she deserves to know the other side of her family?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea. Besides, what's wrong with your family?"

"My family is insane! My little brother has become a depressed hermit, my mom is a nervous wreck about him, and my dad's just always been a little… off," Julia answered. "Oliviera deserves to know where she got her Lancaster name."

"ME! She got it from me!" he exclaimed, looking defeated.

"Ugh!" Julia groaned, shaking her head. "Brady Nolan Lancaster, we are going to Florida! We are letting Oliviera meet her family! Don't do this for you! Do it for the little girl that calls you 'Daddy'!"

They glared at each other for a while until Brady sighed. "Fine. You're just lucky the record company wanted me to go visit the main office…"

She ruffled his hair, giving him a small smile. "Thank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome, Mommy."

**… … …**

"What if they don't like me?" Julia worried, handing the house keys to her parents. They were going to check on the house while they were away for the week.

"You're Julia. What's not to like?" LA said, monotone. He pulled a water bottle out of the fridge. "I'm going back to my room."

Julia raised her eyebrows at her brother's behavior. Once they heard his bedroom door shut, Julia blurted out, "Okay, who was that and what have you done with my brother?"

"He's been like that since November," Clare reminded her, pour coffee for the three of them. "He's starting to worry me. Sure, he did this with Kari, but at least then he had some feelings: sad, angry. Now, he's like a zombie with abs."

"How do you know he has abs?"

"After the crash, he rarely had a shirt on at home," Eli answered, then took a sip of his coffee. "He said it hurt to put it on, but I think he was just trying to make me feel puny."

She held back a laugh. Her eyes rolled. "Yeah, like that takes much to do…"

"Watch it," Eli smirked.

"Anyway," Julia took a seat next to her parents. "Dad, I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa weren't very thrilled about you. What do I do if Brady's family hates me?"

"Okay, one: your grandparents didn't hate me…"

Clare interrupted him with a snicker. He glanced over her way. She waved her hand at him, her lips tightly together to not let out a laugh. "Please, continue."

"As I was saying," Eli continued, turning his gazed to his daughter. "Your grandparents didn't hate me. They weren't thrilled about me, but they grew to like me. But I'm sure Brady's family isn't like your mother's."

She couldn't hold it in anymore. Clare burst out laughing, startling Eli and Julia. "Eli… my parents… hated your guts…"she said between laughs. Eli raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I'm sorry, honey, but they were faking it to your face. You should have heard what they said once you left."

Eli's face dropped. "Well, then…"

"Oh, they like you now." She ruffled his hair. "They finally realized that they can't get rid of you."

"Again: well, then…" he sighed.

"That doesn't make me feel any better, Mom," Julia complained, hiding her face in her hands. "What am I going to do? I don't want to be down there with just…" She pulled her head out of hiding, an evil smirk planted on her face. "You know, the reunion is the week LA and Bryson have spring break. His family is just outside of Disney World. Maybe you could…"

"Julia, we're not going down with you," Clare sternly replied.

"Please, Mom. I need Goldsworthys with me! Besides, LA and Bryson have never been to Disney World!"

"It's not a good idea," Eli started to explain.

"Don't for yourselves!" Julia yelled, slamming her fists on the table. "Do it for the kids that call you Mommy and Daddy!"

Eli and Clare exchanged looked, then sighed. "Fine. We'll go."

She let out a squeal and gripped her parents into a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

When she finally let them go, they sat back down, groaning as they caught their breath from Julia's surprise hug attack. Julia grabbed her purse from the back of her seat and walked over to the key hook, taking her house keys from it, smiling. "Our flight leaves the Saturday after school lets out and we'll be coming back the following Saturday. I'll get you guys your tickets by tomorrow."

Eli rubbed his neck, sore from the hug. "How did you come up with the 'Don't do it for yourselves' thing?"

She smirked, opening the front door. "I used it on Brady." With a goodbye, she was out of the house.

Eli and Clare just stared at each other in amazement. "How did she get us to do that?"

"She has the Goldsworthy charm…" Clare whispered, shaking her head slowly.

**… … …**

"Try to be nice," Julia begged, unloading a plate of cupcakes from the back seat.

Brady picked up Oliviera from her car seat. "Be nice to the family that abandoned me?" He snorted. "I'll try."

"Brady Nolan..." she groaned.

"Julia Carolyn..." he mocked.

"Oliviera Alexandria!" Oliviera explained, throwing her hands up in the air in excitement. Her parents stared at her questioningly. She held on to the ended of her dark blue dress. "I wanted to be included..."

They laughed a little. Brady ruffled her hair. "It's okay," he smiled, causing her to smile, before turning back to his wife. "Since you're so persistent on this, let me go talk to them first. They probably should get used to seeing a grown up Brady before meeting his family."

Julia smirked. "You read my mind, Lancaster."

"I was born with that power," he joked, before walking down to the picnic area. His family rented out a little park type area with a small playground and a covered deck with a couple of picnic tables. When he reached the area, he was surrounded by a bunch of blondes. The Lancaster family was made of many blondes. He was given a lot of weird looks while looking for his grandparents. No one recognized him.

"Brady!" his grandmother shouted, running (well, as best as she could) up behind him. He turned around and gave her a big hug. "Look at you!" she exclaimed. Her face scrunched. "Still have the lip piercing, hoodlum."

"Thanks, Grandma," he groaned, smirking.

His family was in whispers about him, seeing as most of them hadn't seen him since he was twelve. They were in amazement.

"Everyone, look who's here! It's Brady!" his grandma exclaimed, taking him by the wrist.

He awkwardly groaned, cringing at the unwanted attention.

His aunt was the first to speak. "My, oh my, Brady!" She hugged him. "You sure have gotten big!"

"What is that horrible thing coming from your lip?" his uncle asked about his lip ring, giving him a stern look.

"Well, hello to you, too," Brady sarcastically greeted, trying to act friendly for Julia's sake.

"It's been forever!" his little cousin exclaimed.

"I know," he answered, ruffling his hair.

A shrill scream rang through the area, causing everyone to turn towards where Brady parked the car. It sounded like Oliviera. Seconds later, she came running to the deck, crying.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed, pushing through the crowd of family. Brady crouched down to pick her up, letting her cry on his shoulders.

"What happened?" he wondered, rubbing her back, trying to calm her down. He wondered if something happened to Julia.

"The... There w-was a bee!" she cried. "I was scared, Daddy!"

He sighed in relief, patting her back. Oliviera was deathly afraid of bees. "It's okay. The bee's gone now," he comforted her.

Julia came walking down to the desk with the plate of cupcakes. "I'm sorry, Brady. I tried to calm her down, but you know her."

"It's fine," he said, patting his daughter's back. He almost forgot about his family around him and that they don't know about Oliviera.

"Who is she?" his other aunt asked the question on everyone's mind.

Julia's face paled. "You haven't gotten to that part yet?"

"No," Brady sighed. He nudged Oliviera, asking her to face the crowd. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her face looked paler than it already did in comparison to her dark brown locks. "Would you like to introduce yourself?" he asked. When she noticed all of the eyes on her, she buried her face in his neck. He chuckled. "She's normally not this shy."

"You still haven't answered my question," his aunt pushed, crossing her arms.

He sighed. "This is Oliviera, my daughter."

"Our daughter," Julia corrected, smirking as she set down the tray of cupcakes. She walked over to her husband, grabbing onto his free hand. "Hi. I'm Julia, his wife."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" His uncle interrupted, rubbing his temples. "You're married? And have a kid? Why weren't we informed?"

"Um, hold on," Brady said, before whispering into Oliviera's ear, "Why don't you go play over there?" He pointed to the playground.

"Are there bees over there?" she sniffed, rubbing her eyes.

He smiled, then kissed her forehead. "There shouldn't be and if there are, just call me over to take care of them."

She gave him a huge grin as he set her down. "Okay!"

When she was out of earshot, Brady let his smile slip. "Okay, one: I will not be yelled at in front of my daughter. Two: you have no right to ask why you weren't informed about my life. You gave up that right when you abandoned me!"

"We didn't abandon you. Your parents did."

"Oh, so that means you can't keep in contact with me?" he challenged. His breathing smoothed out from his angry huff to just slightly ticked off. "It was a really hard time after they kicked me out. You have no idea what I was going through, what we were going through. I did something that screwed up everything with Julia and her family took me in instead kicking my ass like my own."

"Brady," Julia interrupted, her face red. She wanted to make a good impression with his family, not make them think she was a hooker. "I'm not letting you take all the blame for that. You weren't the one who wanted to do it."

"You weren't the one who wanted to get pregnant!" he countered, causing a collective gasp and whispers from his family. He smirked. "Yeah, bet you didn't know that little tidbit. They didn't kick me out because we ran away. They kicked me out because I got her pregnant at 14."

"Brady!" she seethed through her teeth, smacking his arm. Now she was kind of pissed.

"Oh, but don't worry about your precious family name. It won't be messed up by a teenage baby. We gave him up for adoption." He glares at the crowd, remembering the how his parents though he was a disgrace. He was upset. Who wouldn't be when you own parents, the ones that brought you into this world, disown you like you never existed. "I know how beloved the Lancaster name is to you."

"Brady, we had no idea," his aunt calmly whispered, trying to genuinely comfort him.

He calmed down a little after seeing the sadness amongst the crowd. He never knew the amount of knowledge was kept a secret, a secret taken to his parent's grave. "I know. Mom and Dad had all of us fooled. I didn't know what they told you until three years after it happened."

His aunt hugged him. "I'm so sorry. This never should have happened."

Brady shook his head slowly on her shoulder. He patted her back, trying to comfort her at all after his outburst. "No... no, it shouldn't have."

He took a seat, Julia holding his hand for support. The family wanted the rest of the story and they were happy to explain. They didn't tell too many people. The only people that knew were Julia's close family and friends. They weren't embarrassed about what happened. If anything, they were proud of their decision. They did hat they felt was best. It felt good to get this load off their chests, even temporarily. After a long explanation of the past years, Brady looked over at his daughter, smiling and playing with the rest of the little kids in the family. He squeezed Julia's hand tighter. "Honestly, these two were the best things that ever happened to me."

When he was looking over at her, Oliviera ran over to him, a huge smile plastered on her face with a flower behind her ears. He laughed and placed her on his lap. She reached up and placed a tiny blue flower on his ear and on Julia's ear. "It matches your eyes, Daddy!" she exclaimed. The family laughed.

"It matches yours, too," his grandma pointed out. Oliviera smiled even harder, then hopped over and hugged her leg. Everyone had a smile planted on their faces at the adorable sight. Brady could tell that this might not be as bad as he thought.

**… … …**

It was almost five. Oliviera was playing with some of the younger kids on the playground. Brady was catching up on all that had happened while he was gone. Awkwardly, Julia leaned against the wall, swirling around her drink in her cup. Everyone seemed to be ignoring her. She had sat next to Brady for a while, but got tired of being ignored. He would try to include her, but his family just gave her one word responses and continued to talk to Brady. She started to turn to Oliviera. Her daughter wasn't shy in the least, but she did have trouble making friends. When she saw the smile on her face as she was playing with the rest of the kids, she decided to stay away, not wanting to interrupt Oliviera's fun.

While being there, she found that the middle-aged women tend to stay at a table by themselves, talking about who knows what. After about five minutes of swirling her half-filled cup around, she looked up at the table of women, who quickly turned their heads back to each other from where they were looking at her. She was concerned at first, raised an eyebrow, but went back to stirring her drink, guessing that they were still in shock about how much their little Brady had grown up. Then she got the watched feeling again. She looked up. They were staring at her again. Their head turned back towards each other. Concerned, she did what made her feel comfortable. She went to sit back with Brady. But doing so meant she had to walk passed them. As she did, the ladies were silent.

She sat back down, much to Brady's surprise. He kissed her temple and grabbed her hand, smiling at her before returning to the conversation. As the minutes ticked by, she still felt the eyes stare into her back. She tried to ignore them by resting her head on Brady's shoulder which always gave her comfort. Brady took the hand he was holding hers with and started rubbing her arm. But no amount of Brady would take away the uncomfortable feeling of the situation.

A tiny scream came from the play area. All of the adults stood up to get a better view. Brady shot up to see if it was Oliviera. A little boy was sitting on the swings, Oliviera holding his leg up so the blood from a scrape didn't run down to his shoe. What she assumed was the boy's parents ran over to access the injury. Many of the women were pulling out boxes of Band-Aids and antiseptic from their purses. Julia raised an eyebrow as most of the people ran over to the boy. "Dude, your family is a little health crazed."

"You didn't grow up with them," Brady whispered into her ear. "I'd fall off my bike, not two seconds later I would have medicine and a Band-Aid on my knee." Julia giggled as someone called Bray over, telling him to bring some paper towels. "Duty calls," he smirked, kissing her forehead before rushing over to help.

The kiss made her feel a little less on edge, like to take away the worry that had built up in her. Brady had that power over Julia. She loved him so much and really wanted the people he's known his whole life to accept her as an important part of his life. Much to her dismay, that didn't seem to be happening.

"She has herself wrapped around his finger," a lady from the table that was staring at her said. Julia didn't turn around, just continued listening to what would happen next. She could hear what they were saying clearly now that most of the people had left.

"Honestly, what does he think he can accomplish marrying so young?"

"And having a kid?" another voice added. "His daughter is as cute as a button. Bless her heart for having an irresponsible mother."

"Irresponsible?" Julia thought, her disgusted look turning into a hurt one.

"Anyone who can have a kid that young has to be a floozy," someone piped in. "Trapping Brady like that. Tsk, tsk on her part."

"She ruined everything for him," the one to start the conversation finished.

Julia looked over to Brady. He had Oliviera gripping to his pant leg, watching the boy get a Band-Aid on his knee. "Are they right?" she thought. "What would his life have been like without Oliviera... or me?" She felt her cheeks get hot, knowing they were turning red. "He probably could have gotten farther than he did. They were right." Her breathing became noticeable, short and husky. "I... I ruined everything..." she whispered, watching a tear fall from the table. She couldn't stand to be there anymore. Without thinking, she jumped up, pushed passed the table with the women, and ran to the car. Stumbling up the small hill the parking place, she made it to the passenger seat and slammed the door. She curled up on the seat and cried into the headrest. "Everything's my fault. If I hadn't have gotten pregnant either time, imagine how far Brady would have got by now. Imagine how far he would have been without even meeting me..." She was shocked at herself for behaving like this. Maybe it was just the pressure built up in her to make a good impression that exploded, but she knew this wasn't like her.

When she looked up at the rear view mirror, she saw Oliviera's light blue car seat. All of the anger and pressure built up inside of her let out on the inanimate object. Feeling the hot tears run down her face, she threw an empty pop top bottle at it. The bottle came to a rest, leaning against Oliviera's blue haired plush baby doll. Her angry breaths and hatred look smoothed out. Both weren't alive, or had the ability to produce feelings, but Julia looked at the doll sitting there a mess and saw the look she felt: sorry. "I... I'm horrible," she cried, turning around to face the front.

Desperate, she pulled out her phone and held down speed dial 3.

_Ring._

_Ring._

_Ring._

"Hello?"

She sniffled, trying to pull herself together. "Dad?"

Eli obviously didn't buy her relaxed act. "Julia, what..." The background noise was drowning him out. Little kids screaming in delight and fear and their parents calling them was much louder than his voice. He sighed. "Hold on." A little softer, as if he put his hand on the receiver, she heard him mumble, "It's Julia." After a few minutes or waiting, allowing the anger and sadness that Julia had just let out build back up, the background sounds died and Eli came back on. "Have I told you how much I love Disney?" he asked, the sarcasm jumping out of him. Julia let out a small laugh, but not enough to mask what she was feeling. "Thank god We're leaving. Dat spent in hell. Now what's wrong? Is everything okay?"

She gulped, trying not to cry even harder. "His family hates me."

"First thing's first: get Oliviera out of there," Eli replied, his calm voice hinting a bit of concern on his granddaughter's wellbeing. "She doesn't need to hear all of those negative things about her."

"No, they love her. They call her adorable and cute," she cried, trying not to. She took a break, letting her voice crack as she breathed. "It's just me they hate."

"Julia, I'm sure they don't..."

"They said I ruined everything for him," she interrupted, "and that they feel bad for Oliviera for having me as a mother."

"Jul..."

"They called me irresponsible," she interrupted again. It killed her inside knowing that. "And they're right."

"That's where I draw the line," Eli said. He took a quick second to gather his thoughts. With a distraught Julia, the words had to come out precisely or the message will not be received. "Brady loves you. He loves you and Oliviera. You've always been there for him, even in his darkest moments. Do you really think that he would have done any better without you?"

"Without me, he could have been in Hollywood or on tour instead of tied down to me and a kid," she insisted.

"Or he could have been living with his grandparents in their basement with no dreams to accomplish," he pointed out. "When his parents died, he didn't want to go back down to Florida, not even to talk to the record company, but he knew that this could be the perfect opportunity for both of you." He took a pause, letting her take it in. "He's following his dreams for you."

She let out a small cry in the silence between both of them. Eli let her, wishing he could be there in person to comfort his daughter. Out of the blue, she whispered, "Do you ever feel like you ruined mom's life by having me so young?"

The question shocked him. He never really thought about it. He kind of pushed that possibility to the back of his mind. He felt horrible about it, but deep down, he knew the answer. "Of course. I always felt like putting all that pressure on her was my fault. But she wanted you, Julia, more than anything. Her mind was made up. You were her future."

"Aw. How heartwarming," she smirked, even though her dad couldn't see it.

He let out a small chuckle. "That's me: Mr. Heartwarming."

They sat in silence, a smile on both of their faces. A tap on the driver's side window startled her. When she looked, Brady was standing there, a small smile on his face, pointing to the car lock, asking her to open it.

"Thanks, Dad. I needed that. Sorry to interrupt you."

Eli scoffed. "No, please, interrupt as much as you want. We're almost back to the hotel and I can still hear 'It's A Small World After All'."

Julia giggled. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you, too, Jules," he replied before both hung up.

Julia pressed the unlock button on the door, letting Brady in. He took a seat on the driver's side, closing the door behind him. "Who were you talking to?"

"My dad," she answered. "I called him."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is everything okay?"

With all the courage she could muster, she asked, looking down at the radio, "Am I irresponsible?"

The question shocked him for a second. He wasn't expect that response. "No, not to my knowledge. Why is this being brought up?"

She ignored his question. Her mind path was set straight with her questions and she was not steering any other direction. "Did I ruin your life?"

Silence filled the car. As much as he wanted to yell denying her thoughts, his mouth wouldn't form words. He never thought about it. He always felt like everything was already set for him, nothing thrown in. Everything that had happened was going to. Never did he think about that. When he regained his ability to speak, he stroked her hair behind her ears and whispered. "Not at all."

"How can you say that?" A few wet droplets fell onto the arm rest in between them.

"Because it's true." He took her chin, making her look at him. Her jade eyes held a certain depressed look and the setting sunlight reflected off of the tears filling her eyes. "I believe everything happens for a reason. Nothing just happens without a reason. Everything that's happened me- meeting you, my parents dying, Bryson and Oliviera- happened because it was meant for me and it's made me a better person."

"I thought we weren't religious," Julia tried to joke, her voice cracking. "Sounds a lot like predestination."

Brady smiled at her attempt. "Predestination is where God determines whether you'll go to heaven or hell before you're born and we both know I don't believe in a higher power."

Julia smiled back at him. "We've had this talk a long time ago."

"Now…" He took her hand comfortingly. "I know you didn't leave to talk religious. What brought up ruining my life?"

She hated to tell him this. He had just reunited with his family after seven years and now she was going to break it apart. She considered lying. "Um…"

"Julia, tell me the truth." His face held a very serious stare, making Julia melt under it.

She took a big gulp, preparing herself for denial. "You're family hates me."

His stare turned into a pity look. "You found out?" He kissed her hand romantically. "I'm so sorry. My family's very religious and they hate the fact that we were teen parents." He kissed her hand again as if his kisses were going to solve everything. In all honestly, they were comforting. "I'll have a talk with them."

"No," she begged. "I don't want them mad at you." With that sentence, Julia was more concerned with Brady's family being happy that he's back with them than whether they liked her.

"I'd rather have you and Oliviera in my life than them. You guys are my world, not them." He kissed her forehead. "I'll fix this." With that, he got out of the car, leaving Julia alone with her thoughts. Maybe they were right. Maybe Oliviera was the best thing that happened. If it weren't for them, Brady may not have had the drive to get as far as he had. Julia smiled, feeling a lot better than before. She didn't care what they thought. His family was down here and they were back in Canada. She'd only see them at Christmas anyway, right? Brady loved her and she loved Brady. Along with Oliviera, that was all she need.

She spent about ten minutes in silence until it was interrupted by her cell phone ringtone. A picture of Eli and Julia flashed across the screen, meaning her dad was calling her. They had just talked about twenty minutes ago. Putting on a smirk, she answered, "Can't get enough of me?"

Eli's voice was filled with concern. He sounded like he was shaking, frightened. "Something happened."

**… … …**

Bryson sprinted through the door of the hotel room towards the bathroom, feeling like his bladder was about to explode. Eli and Clare laughed at him, flopping down on their bed. They spent the day in Disney World, leaving LA at the hotel, saying he didn't want to go.

"LA would have loved today," Clare giggled. "Bryson would have had a play mate for all of the games."

"Yeah, leave me with that duty," Eli groaned, smirking. The smirk soon faded into scrunched eyebrows and a questioning look. "Speaking of LA, where is he?"

"Mom! Dad!" Bryson cried in horror, running out of the bathroom. His eyes were slowly turning red and his face was flushed with tears streaming down his cheeks. He looked like he saw a ghost.

Immediately concerned, both sat up. Clare asked, "Bryson, what happened?"

"It's LA!" he choked out, almost hyperventilating.

The adults exchanged worried looks before jumping up and racing to the bathroom. Once they got there, the sight was horrible, burned into the back of their minds forever.

The tub was filled with water, swirls of red pooled in. A boy's body was submerged in water, clothes and all, except for his head and arm. Auburn hair fell over his closed eyes. Blood stained his wrist, clothes, and the bathtub he was laying in. His sleeves were pulled up to his elbows, the blue fabric now purple. His arm hung over the edge of the tub, letting blood flow into the water and over the edge onto the floor. Carved into his arm were "CF" and a heart around the veins in his wrist, the line through it slashing them. He looked pale, lifeless. LA looked dead.

Clare immediately fell to the floor, trying to catch her breath from the sight. She wanted to scream, needed to, but no sound would come out. The only thing escaping were tears from her eyes and huffs of her breathing.

Eli couldn't move. His legs didn't even have enough feeling to fall. He knew he should run over and check for a pulse, but all he could focus on was his son's wrist. It felt like the world stopped turning, like Julia all over again. But Julia's death was an accident. LA's definitely wasn't.

The only thing heard between the both of them was their seven-year-old son on the phone. "911? My brother... He..." He couldn't finish. He and Clare broke down into tears.

**… … …**

Julia burst into the hospital crying, Brady following close behind. "Dad! Mom!" she called, seeing them in the waiting room crowd. Clare was cradling Bryson, trying to calm him down, even though she was shaking worse than he was. Eli had his face buried in his hands, leaning over on his knees. The three looked up.

"LA?" was all she could say.

Eli tried to put on a brave face for his daughter, but his flushed features were hard to hide. He stood up and walked over to his daughter.

She read his sad face. "He's dead, isn't he?" she cried. Eli didn't say anything, just kept the same expression as before. She curled her fists until her knuckles were white. She could feel the tears drop off her face to the ground. "Don't fuck with me, Dad!" she demanded, getting the attention of everyone in the waiting room. "He's dead, isn't he? My little brother's dead!"

Eli wrapped his arms around his shaking daughter, letting her cry into his chest. He ran his hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her. Finally regaining his voice, he whispered, "He's not dead."

She slowly lifted her head from his shirt. "What?"

"The doctors are doing everything they can to save him," Eli explained. "He was gone when we got him here, but they brought him back. He's in critical condition and we don't know if he's going to make it. But right now, he's alive."

Brady placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to give her some comfort. She stood there, speechless, unable to move. When he realized she was in shock, he turned her around and wrapped his arms around her, running his fingers through her hair and whispering in her ear. His shirt became tear stained, but he was unable to tell if they were relieved tears or sad ones. He soon felt his cheeks become hot and water drip down them, too. He's known LA since he was about two. LA was always considered to be Brady's little brother.

The three of them just stood in the middle of the waiting room and hoped for the best.

**… … …**

Back in Toronto, Cayden, bored, logged onto Facerange. He scrolled through the posts, same old stuff. Nothing really caught his eye until Julia's post:

"I know I'm an atheist and don't believe in this stuff, but for those of you who do, please pray for my brother. We're at the hospital and LA isn't looking too well."

Before he could even speak, his door burst open. Swirling around quickly towards the door, frightened, he saw Kari, panting and crying. "Have you seen Julia's post?"

Without even asking how she got to his house so fast, he answered, "I just read it. Do you know what happened?"

Kari stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Cayden, crying onto his shoulder. "He cut himself... J-Julia texted me."

"He..." His mouth became dry at the thought. "He tried to... kill himself?"

Kari nodded, still crying. "Why would LA do this?"

"Why would LA do what?"

The question caused the two to pull apart and looked towards the doorway. Calissa stood there with wide and questioning eyes. Kari hid her face in Cayden's chest, crying even harder. Cayden just stared at his twin sister, unable to move or speak. Neither could bring themselves to tell her what happened to her best friend.

**… … …**

"Goldsworthy family?" the doctor called into the quiet waiting room. A lot of families were still there, but, since it was around 11, a lot of people were sleeping.

Eli, still awake, gently woke up Clare. Both walked over to the doctor. "That's us."

The doctor, a lot friendlier than the one after the wreck, smiled back at them. "Adam's going to be fine. We fixed up the cuts and the blood transfusion went perfectly."

Both let out a relieved sigh. Clare gave Eli a huge hug.

The doctor's smile fell. "Now, we're placing him under suicide watch for a few days until his release."

Eli nodded. "We understand."

He pulled out a piece of paper, including the room LA was in. "You're welcome to see him at any time." With a nod, he left.

Eli read over the paper and all its details while Clare woke up Julia, Brady, and Bryson. Fixing her hair, Julia asked, "Well...?"

Clare, smiling from ear to ear, answered, "Everything's okay."

"No, it's not," Eli said, reading over the paper. He looked up at his confused family. "What if he's bipolar?"

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" Clare asked, shaking her head.

"Just think about it," Eli responded. "He was such an active and happy-go-lucky kid before all this Calissa stuff happened, but drastically changed, literally, overnight. He's experienced some of the symptoms: feeling sad and worthless, physical and mental sluggishness, and thoughts of death and suicide."

"But what about the mania part of it?" Clare asked.

He looked back at the paper in his hand. "Bipolar Type 2: basically, the more depressed, less manic version." He stayed silent for a moment. Everyone could notice the paper shaking in his hand. "Bipolar disorder is a strong genetic trait. I could have easily passed it on to him."

"Eli..." Clare placed her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Our son is not bipolar."

"I'm bipolar," he snapped back, a little harsher than he meant to.

Clare was taken aback at his reaction. She let out a breath, calming both of them down. "So, hypothetically speaking, our son is bipolar. How would we find out?"

"Physiologist," he answered quickly. "I'm sure they have someone here."

Clare nodded, then turned around to Julia and Brady. "Go pick up Oliviera from your grandparents, take her and Bryson back to the hotel, and we'll call back in the morning."

"But what about L-" Julia started.

"We'll call you back in the morning," Clare seethed, causing Julia to jump a little. She didn't want to overwhelm LA. Brady picked up a sleeping Bryson and, after goodbyes, the three left, leaving the parents alone with a new fear on their minds.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the same doctor as before. "Excuse me?" he interjected, grabbing both Eli and Clare's attention. "Adam's asking for an Eli."

Eli sighed, keeping a straight face. "Please... call him LA. He doesn't respond well to Adam." With an apology, the doctor led Eli to LA's room, leaving Clare to inform the rest of the family about LA's condition.

When he walked into the room, his son looked broken. He was hooked up to an IV and his skin was pale. His scar was visible, as his palm was facing up. He had his eyes closed, head turned to the side, like he was sleeping. The doctor left them alone, closing the door behind him, leaving the Goldsworthy men alone.

Out of nowhere, LA whispered in a raspy voice, "I'm sorry."

The room was silent, Eli not moving from his standing position and LA still looking like he was asleep. Eli was trying to find the right words to approach his son. He never thought something like this would happen. He had no speech prepared.

"I know you must be angry, but please, don't ignore me. Please say something," LA begged, his voice cracking. "Don't hate me..."

Eli sighed, feeling like he let his son down. He sat down on a chair next to the bed. "I'm not mad. I don't hate you."

"Well, now you found out the truth," LA whispered, his voice cracking again. "I'm not the perfect son everyone tells you I am. I'm depressed. I'm suicidal..." Tears streamed down his cheeks. "What's wrong with me, Dad?"

Flustered, he rubbed his temples, trying to put together the words. "LA, you know I'm bipolar, right?"

"Of course," he answered. "You gave me the speech when I was five."

"Well..." he groaned, then exhaled loudly. He just didn't know how to spring this on him. Luckily, he didn't have to.

"I'm bipolar, aren't I?" LA whispered, emotionless. Eli was slightly startled. This was a side of LA that seemed very distant and closed. He didn't show any fear or confusion in his voice, like Eli had when he found out. It scared him. "Just rip the band-aid off."

"It's a possibility," Eli answered. "It can be genetic and you've shown some of the symptoms." He waited for the out lash of denial and anger, but the reaction he got startled him even more...

LA smiled.

Eli gave him a confused look. "And you're happy about probably being bipolar?"

LA let out a tiny laugh, the first after many long months. "As crazy as this is going to sound, kind of." He looked over at his dad, his laugh getting louder when seeing the confusion plastered on his face. He sighed out to talking. "All my life, I've been the perfect one, Mom's golden boy son. I look like her, I act somewhat like her. I basically am her. Well, except for my grades... and that I have a penis. That's your doing." That got a chuckle out of both of them. "It makes me feel... good that I actually inherited something from you. And it gives me some comfort that I'm not the perfect little jock everyone expects me to be."

"I don't expect you to be perfect," Eli started. "I don't want you to be perfect. You're a Goldsworthy." He smirked. "We're far from perfect. I just want you to be my son, my happy son who does what he wants to do, not because he feels like he has to." Eli looked down at his folded hands in his lap. "I want you to feel like life's worth living, because, trust me, there's something that's meant for you." He had LA's full attention and a single tear ran down his cheek. "I crashed Morty for your mom."

"Huh?" LA mumbled, cocking his head to the side.

"We were young, I had a manic attack. This was before I found out I was bipolar. She broke up with me, told me she hated Morty, so I had to get rid of him..." This was hard for him to say. He tries not to think of that day. "I could have killed myself, but I was lucky. I could have screwed up so many lives if I would have died. Your Aunt Fiona and Uncle Adam wouldn't have gotten back together. Your Uncle Adam would have gone into a deep depression without me. You and your sister wouldn't be here and your mother... well, I can't say anything for sure..." he trailed off, remembering her Jake rebound. "But LA, so many people would have been affected if I died. Think about if you had died today. Kari, Cayden... Calissa," He listed the last name with caution, as her initials were etched into his wrist. LA's eyes twitched.

"I know, Dad," he said, regret filling his voice. "I know..."

Eli exhaled, smirking a sad smirk. "As long as you realize that."

LA gave his dad a small smile. "If you don't mind, I'm kind of tired."

He ruffled his hair. "I understand, but before you go to sleep, can you at least talk to your mother?"

LA sighed, grimacing. "I know I owe her an apology. After the wreck, she told me that even the thought of losing me terrified her. I can't imagine how she must feel now." LA couldn't get the image of his distraught mom. "Oh..." he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and throwing his head back. "I'm a fucked-up person..."

As much as he hated to leave, Eli needed to get Clare. Returning to the waiting room, he informed Clare of the situation and led her to the room. He sat down on the guest chair and watched the intense stare down between his wife and his son.

"LA..."

"Mom..."

A visible tear dropped down Clare's cheek. She rushed over, throwing her arms around LA's neck, crying. LA, shocked at first, patted his mom's back before embracing her, crying on her shoulder as Clare was.

**… … …**

"You know, you can stay home if you don't feel alright."

"Dad, I'm fine," LA answered, his voice shaking as he watched the pass the office. The bell rang. He fingered the bandages around his wrist. "I need to face them eventually. I've kept them in the dark for three days since the end of spring break. They deserve to know." He turned back to his dad, putting on a smile. "Now just check me in."

Eli smirked comfortingly, then signed some papers. After he was finished, he said, "I'll pick you up during lunch for your therapist appointment."

"Okay. Thanks, Dad," LA sighed, staring as Cayden walked pass, oblivious to his presence.

Eli's eyes followed his son's. He rested his hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're ready?"

LA gave a curt nod. "Positive."

As they walked out of the office, Eli looked around the school. "This place brings back memories. I remember having the same conversation with your grandfather."

"Well, you know what they say: like father, like son." Both LA and Eli smiled before parting ways. As he turned around to find Cayden, he pulled his sleeves over his exposed bandages, wincing at the memory.

He walked the empty hallway to his class. It was deserted, which normally would have made him paranoid, but it felt good to be alone now. He needed to be alone, to clear his head. His own little world came crashing down when he reached his class door.

"Now, turn the page to..." LA heard his English teacher instruct the class. He was late, obviously. The bell rang when he was in the office. The teacher teaching without him shouldn't come as a surprise.

He took a deep breath. "Breathe in... and out..." he tried to calm himself down. "Why am I afraid?" he thought, beating himself up mentally. Then he remembered: Calissa. Despite his poor grades in other subjects, he was in Calissa's advanced English class. Just a gift from his parent who were both writers.

"Screw it!" he whispered, gritting his teeth and turning the knob. Relaxing before he threw the door open, he carefully opened it. All eyes turned to him; whispers rang out through the room. Paranoid, he pulled down his sleeve, causing even more of a buzz.

"Mr. Goldsworthy, nice of to you to join us," his teacher groaned. "Do you have an excuse for being late?"

Silent, he handed him the note and sulked back to an empty seat, eyes following his every move. After the teacher started talking, the attention faded back to the lecture, except for Calissa. She couldn't take her eyes off of LA. She bit her lip, worried about him. Not many people know what exactly happened over spring break. Everything she heard were crazy rumors, not having to deal anything with what really happened. He got into another car wreck. He was mugged by a gang member. A pit bull attacked him. She even heard something as ridiculous as he fell off the stage at a music award show. But no one knew the real truth. LA Goldsworthy tried to kill himself. Squinting, she saw the bandages poking out from his sleeves. Her stomach dropped.

"As I was saying, Sylvia Plath..."

LA quit listening. He smirked. "No coincidence there," he thought, smirking.

Calissa bit her lip again. "Great timing for this lesson..." she thought.

**… … …**

LA sat down in the cafeteria, twisting the top off of his fruit punch, the only thing he had. He took a drink, letting the refreshing liquid soak his dry mouth. After the day he had of brief glances and long stares, he needed to rehydrate his mouth. When he set the bottle down, he saw Calissa staring him down from across the table. He choked a little on his drink.

"Adam," she said professionally.

"C-Calissa?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

She sat there, biting her lip. "Why?"

He looked from left to right, seeing if her brother or anyone else would come and save him from this conversation. "Why what?"

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Why would you try to kill yourself?" she almost screamed, luckily not getting any attention. LA saw a tear fall down her face.

He sighed, placing his head in his hands. "I don't know..." he simply answered.

"You don't know? You don't know why wanted to die?" she whispered, anger and disbelieving.

He looked her dead in the eye. "I'm not okay. You left my life and nothing has been okay." He exhaled deeply, jumping up and slamming his hands on the table. "This is all your fault!" he yelled, catching everyone's attention. His anger face died when he saw the terror filling Calissa's tear-filled eyes.

"I'm sorry..." she apologized. Then the fright changed to match the anger that was in his eyes before. She slamming the table the way he did. "But I'm doing what's best for you!" He was startled by her reaction. "You think this is all about you. You don't think leaving you alone affected me any. Well, I'll tell you, LA, you aren't the easiest person to get over..." she stares him down directly in his eyes. "I cried every night afterward, but I knew that this was for your safety. And now you go and do this! I will NOT be the reason you kill yourself!" The entire cafeteria started to whisper, finally figuring out what happened over Spring Break. "Burn everything I gave you, cut up my pictures, just do anything to erase me from your memory, because what I said back in November still stands now." She wiped her eyes, holding back tears. "I don't want to lose you, but you need to forget me!"

They stood there, speechless, just staring at each other. Neither could move, just stand and stare. The tension between them was broken by the speaker coming on. "LA Goldsworthy, please come to the office for check-out, LA Goldsworthy."

"Therapy," LA spat out, regret filling his eyes. He walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Calissa alone to fall back in her seat and cry.

**… … …**

"LA, is there something wrong?" Clare asked, sipping on a mug of hot chocolate after dinner.

"You've been a quite since we got back from therapy," Eli noted.

LA, curled up in a ball on the love seat, quietly whispered, "I yelled at her."

"At who?" Clare asked, setting down the mug, a concerned look donning her face.

"Calissa... I told her that everything was her fault..." LA let a tear rolled down to the seat. "You should have seen the fear in her eyes." He looked up at his dad. "I scared her, Dad. You don't know how much of a douche I feel like right now."

Clare whispered to Eli, "Could that have been a manic attack?"

"Possibly," he answered.

"Will you quit talking behind my back?" LA cried. "I know I'm crazy! Just tell me to face!"

"LA, you're not crazy. You're bi-polar," Eli said firmly.

"Don't give me that!" he yelled. "You're bi-polar! You think you're crazy, too!"

Eli sighed, "Sometimes, but I know I'm not. You can't let this stop you." He picked up a bottle from the counter. "Here." He handed it to LA. "You know I'm not one for the whole 'Take-This-Pill-And-You'll-Feel-Better' therapist talk, but they'll help."

"Dad..." LA started.

"Do you want to hurt Calissa like that again?" Eli interrupted.

In his mind, the only thing LA could see was the terrified look that filled her eyes. He snatched the pills. "Fine."

"Don't do this for Calissa," Clare interjected, knowing what LA was picturing. "You have to want to get better for you." She smirked at Eli, unexpected to LA.

Eli rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, yeah, don't bring up junior year..."

"Okay. I want to get better for me," LA said, standing up. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like some sleep. Got a big test tomorrow."

With a few goodnights, Eli and Clare turned back to each other. With an exhausted look, they both flopped down on the couch. Clare snuggled up to Eli's chest, resting her head on his pec. He ran his fingers through her hair.

"We have some work ahead of us," Clare sighed.

"Not really, he goes off to college in this summer," he smirked, lifting the sad mood.

Clare gently smacked him. "Eli!" she smiled. "I'm serious. He does go off to college in the summer, but that means we have a limited amount of time to help him through this."

The smirk faded. He started running his fingers through her hair soothingly. "I know. It's not going to be easy."

Clare smirked at her husband. "When is anything ever easy with this family."

"Touché."

* * *

**I've ended the last couple chapters the same... :( BUT it's all leading up to the end, which probably won't be the next chapter. I'll probably have two more. **

**And now you know my LA plot twist. Yeah, I don't know how that came to me, but I liked it. I did a lot of research about bipolar disorder, but if you are bipolar and I got some of the information wrong, I apologize. And I know I didn't resolve things with Brady's family and Julia. I'm going to let you be the judge of that. Did his family accept Julia or did they never talk to her again? I don't think Brady's family will be a big part of their lives.**

**The next chapter will include EVERYONE: Adam, Fiona, Alli, Brookie, and TWO surprises! Yeah, a reunion before the finale! **

**Thansk for Reading!**


	20. The Finale: Part 4

**Hey, readers!**

**So it's been a little over a month and all I can say is that I feel really bad about only giving you a five page chapter after that wait. I'm very sorry. I thought I would have another scene in this, but honestly, I really wanted to get this out there and if I wanted to finish the scene, you probably wouldn't have gotten an update for another three weeks. So a shorter chapter is beter than waiting any longer, right?**

**Now that I have to add the other scene to the next chapter, the final chpater will be even longer! Yay!**

**So any romantics out there? I hope so, because I've supplied a new couple and some more LA and Calissa drama I think you'll like! Also, the first paragraph is a big hint for something to come, so think about it.**

**I know I said there will be two characters coming, but that's in the sceen I didn't get to do. And now I have two others to add in. Since I've kept you in suspense, I'll just tell you: Jake, Imogen, Brookie, and a surprise character that I can't tell you about!**

**Prom outifts on my profile!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi, Aerosmith, or Breathe Carolina. **

**In unrelated news, I got two new fish and named them Eli and Clare. Sweet, right? Also I saw the Nowhere to Run episodes online. Oh, my God. My heart was so upset afterwards. No spoilers for the people who haven't watched it. Though, if you want to watch it and you live in the US like I do, you can find it online or watch it on the 18th of November.**

**Now that my little speech is over, Enjoy!**

* * *

LA sprinted through the door, hoping not to be noticed. He got his progress report that day and he really didn't want his parents to see his grades, which he knew slipped since Calissa wasn't his tutor... or his alternative to gym. After the suicide attempt, he wasn't allowed to stay in gym or any of his sports until his wrists had healed and every time he looked down at the bandages, he had to remind himself that what had been in his life forever was now gone. He reached the steps, about to be free, until he heard a loud cough.

"LA," Eli said, barely above a whisper, but held the feeling of piercing through LA's eardrum.

Slowly, he turned around, facing his parents. "Hey..." he awkwardly greeted, giving them a cheesy smile.

"Progress report," Clare demanded, unfolding her arms to reach out to LA, demanding the paper.

He whimpered, melancholy, reaching into his messages bag. Out came out a taped envelope. He reached out to hand her the report, but Clare snatched it out of his hand. It was to be expected by now. Clare and Eli were very strict when it came to grades, especially this last year of school. Hastily, Clare ripped open envelope and quickly read it over, Eli hunched over her shoulder. "History B, chemistry B, pre-calculus C, English A, art A... home ec A? Since when are you in home economics? What happens to gym?"

LA sighed. "They made me switch out of PE and quit sports, because..." He motioned to his wrists. "It was either home ec or choir."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Eli asked.

LA scuffled his feet. "I don't know. I guess it wasn't very... me."

"Well, you're obviously good at it," Clare murmured. "Look at all the one-hundreds you have on assessments."

He shrugged it off. "What can I say? I like to cook. I got into the class during the cooking unit."

"So you were kicked out of PE and your sport teams and went to cooking class?" Eli questioned. LA nodded. "So where have you been after school when you told us you had practice?"

Clare's eyes widen. She forgot about that. She watched as LA's face paled, then turned a furiously red. He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "Um... I signed up for..." he tried to smile it off, "the cooking club... heh heh?"

Eli smirked questionably as Clare widened her eyes in the same manner. "What?"

"Yeah, not what you'd expect from the star, well, ex-star quarterback..." he tried to play off, still rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. He was kind of hoping he wouldn't have to tell them so soon about his decision. "But I'm good. My teacher's really impressed. Um, let me make it up to you for my grades. I'll make dinner tonight! Chicken Parmesan?"

Both raised an eyebrow at their desperate sounding son. They knew he shouldn't be this worried. They were proud for keeping his grades this well, but they weren't about to pass up a meal and they wanted to see how good he really was. "Okay. Sounds good," Clare agreed. "But you still should have told us."

LA apologized, then ran to the kitchen, with no need to hide in his bedroom anymore. Eli and Clare smiled at the dedication that showed on his face as he started to work on dinner. This might not be a bad thing.

* * *

"What do you mean you aren't going? It's prom!"

"I just don't feel like going. I haven't felt like doing much of anything," LA answered, swirling around his fruit juice in its plastic bottle and flipping through his iPod. "Besides, I don't have a date." When he found a certain song, his face lit up for the first time that lunch.

"Seriously? Cayden found a date! I'm sure you can," Kari complained.

"Hey, hurtful," Cayden complained, offended, but smirking at her at the same time. Her cheeks turned a slight pink that someone wouldn't notice unless they had been around her for a long time. But LA wasn't paying attention to them. He was too busy listening to his iPod, smiling. "Okay, what's on that iPod that has you so smiley? Porn?" he asked, taking the device from LA's hand, much to LA's concern. He didn't even hear the question.

Kari leaned over to see the screen. "I.D.G.A.F?"

"Breathe Carolina?"

Quickly, LA snatched back his iPod. "I was browsing YouTube and came across them. They're good."

Without asking, Cayden pulled the ear buds out of the iPod, letting the entire cafeteria hear the lyrics 'Even if this chemistry's catastrophe, I Don't Give A Fuck' before LA shoved them back into the jack.

"And that is why I'm wearing ear buds," he seethed.

"Loud iPod," Cayden noted, watching as the people in the cafeteria went back to minding their own business.

"You still have to go," Kari put her foot down, crossing her arms. She wasn't being swayed in her decision.

"Please, LA. My parents are making Calissa go and I need someone to take her," Cayden explained.

His eyes narrowed over to his best friend. "You want me to go to be a babysitter?"

Cayden tried to cover it up, scared, "I-I didn't mean it like…"

"And doesn't your sister hate me?" he interrupted.

"She doesn't hate you. She thinks she's protecting you."

"We want you guys to talk again," Kari said. "Don't you miss her?"

LA's heart hurt at that question. What was he supposed to say? Go with his heart, which ached for her to be back in his life? How he missed watching her eyes light up whenever she laughed? How he wished he could enjoy how her curly hair gently bounced as she walked? Or go with his head that said she didn't want him so he should stay away to make her happy? In this war against himself, both sides came to a draw. LA groaned. "If I go, can I go back to listen to Breathe Carolina in peace?"

"Yes," she answered almost immediately.

He smirked, something he picked up from his dad and sister. "Why so desperate to get me to go? Love me again?"

"No," Cayden snapped defensively. LA raised his eyebrow at him while Kari's eyes popped open with freight.

"It's a joke. Keep your panties on," LA sighed, putting the ear buds back in his ears. He watched as both his friends relaxed, but still held scared looks on their faces. As much as it bothered him, he let it go… for now.

**… … …**

"Smile!" Cayden's mom, Caitlyn, and Clare cooed at their son's, holding cameras up and taking pictures.

"Are we done yet?" LA's complained, tugging at his black vest over his light blue, long-sleeve button down shirt. To keep things simple, he wore a pair of black dress pants and black dress shoes with his curly hair the same as it always it: to his jaw and in his face in the wind gently blowing.

"We have to wait for Cayden's girlfriend!" his mom squealed. "She's just the sweetest thing. It's been four months, right, Cay?"

"Yep," Cayden blushed furiously, staring at his dress shoes. He wore a black tux with a plain white button down underneath with a hot pink tie. His uneven light brown hair fell flat down to his jaw, his bangs swerving left almost over his brown eyes.

"Nice tie," LA snickered, teasing him. "Matches her dress, doesn't it?"

He nodded. "Yep… yes, it does, unfortunately."

"And why haven't I been informed of this girlfriend?"

Cayden shrugged. "We keep forgetting to tell you."

LA lifted an eyebrow. "How do you forget you're in a relationship?"

"Listen, I have an explanation…" he started, but was interrupted by a car pulling up to the driveway.

"She's here," Mark, his step-dad, smiled at his son.

A similar face stepped out of the driver's side, most likely the dad, and opened the door for his daughter. She stepped out, straight, bright blonde hair down to the top of the sparkles on her strapless hot pink, floor length dress. A smile flooded her face as she glanced at Cayden, a small blush falling on her cheeks. Cayden walked over to her, helping her out of the back seat. He planted a small peck on her cheek before bring their foreheads together.

"Hey, Kari," he greeted.

"Gooding evening, Cayden," she sighed, trying to sound professional, but was unable to.

"Kari? You're dating Kari?" LA asked, dead serious, watching the couple turn around to look at him. Cayden wrapped his arm around Kari's waist as both blushed. He glared at Cayden. "Thanks for telling me, Butt Munch. I would have loved have known my best friend and ex were going out."

"We thought you'd be a little upset…" Kari murmured, shuffling her white heels.

"No," he answered, shaking his head, smiling. "I'm actually pretty stoked." He walked over, placing his arm around each other their necks, ruffling Cayden's hair. "Now I can make ridiculous love jokes around you guys.

Cayden and Kari gulped nervously before all of their mom's took a picture of the three. LA pulled away, wrapping Cayden and Kari's arms around each other. As their mother's yelled at them to do different poses, Clare smiled over at her son. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a sweetheart?"

"I am a romantic at heart," he smirked over at his dad, rested his arm on his shoulder.

"You get that from both of us." Eli smirked, looking at Clare. "We're both pretty damn romantic."

The Fitzgerald's door flew open, revealing Mark running out. "She's coming!" he exclaimed, a smile spreading across his face. LA knew who 'she' was and as much as he didn't want to be excited to see her, his eyes couldn't leave the door, especially when she stepped out.

Calissa's curly brown hair cascaded down her spaghetti strap dress, all the way to the pink bow on the left side. The rest of her dress matched bow, a light pink. At her waist, the dress flowed out in puffy, subtle ruffles. On her dainty feet were two small pink heels. She had light natural make-up on, making her brown eyes pop. She looked up uncomfortably, not one for a lot of attention. For the first time in a while, Calissa smiled over at LA. "LA, you can close your mouth now. I don't look that good."

Startled, he quickly shut his mouth, which he didn't realize was open. He tried to avert his staring, but she was too stunning to turn away. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"You look beautiful, honey," Mark complemented, taking her hand to help her down to the lawn.

"Thanks, Dad," she smiled, blushing.

Without thinking, La walked over to her, taking her hand from Mark, something Mark was happy to do. "You look stunning." He had no idea where that came from. It's like his heart took over his whole body, winning the battle over his mind to stay away.

"Thanks, LA," she said, monotone, starring at the ground. She didn't want to look in his eyes, afraid she would get roped in. "You don't look too bad yourself."

"LA," Eli whispered, getting his son's attention. "Put the corsage on her, idiot."

"Oh!" He forgot, fumbling with the box in his other hand. Slowly, he placed the light pink flowers on her wrist and she placed his boutonniere on him. They posed for some pictures, which their mothers insisted on as Kari's dad, Spinner, talked with Eli.

"You don't have to stay around me all night," Calissa said, as they finished taking pictures.

He smirked down on her, seeing as she was shorter than him. "Don't hold your breath."

"I'm serious, LA."

"Oh, what a coincidence. Me too."

**… … …**

"You know, I thought I'd get used to watching your brother and my ex make out, but no," La grimaced at the scene on the dance floor. "Still disturbing."

"You don't have to live him. He's such a girl," Calissa whined.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"Don't be. I get out of there after graduation."

LA's smile faded, as he finished his water, eating the ice. After about two hours of prom, Calissa and LA were speaking like civilized people again, but she refused to look at him the whole night. He wished he could get her to look at him, even just for a second. The reminder that they were going to be separated again made his stomach drop.

The grind fest of teenagers ceased on the dance floor as soon as a slow song came on. The couples paired off, leaving the rest to step off and watch the happy couples dance. As he watched Cayden whisper something into Kari's ear, LA got a brilliant idea. Taking the last ice cube from the drink, he stood up and held out his hand for Calissa.

_I could stay awake just to hear you breathing  
Watch you smile while you are sleeping  
While you're far away and dreaming_

"LA, what are you doing?" Calissa asked, slightly blushing, but holding a stern look in her eyes.

"May have this dance?" he replied, smiling at her.

"LA, just because we're talking tonight doesn't mean I'm back in your life," she frowned, looking at the ground. Her arms were crossed. "I'm not going to let you get hurt again."

Quickly, he picked up his empty glass. "Look at this glass. Notice the contents in it. There is nothing." He smirked, setting the glass back in the table. "That's the amount of fucks I give." With that, he pulled her up and led her to the dance floor. Instead of being reluctant like he was expecting, she followed easily, with some hesitation. He rested his hands on her waist as she placed her arms on his shoulders. They swayed slowly to the beat of the song. LA stared into her eyes while Calissa tried to avoid eye contact.

_Don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you babe  
And I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing_

As the chorus finished, Calissa slipped her arms from his shoulders to around his neck. Soon, her head was rested on LA's chest. A little surprised, LA let her keep it there. He smiled.

_Lying close to you feeling your heart beating  
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming  
Wonderin' if it's me you're seeing_

He rested his chin on her head, just taking in the sweet strawberry scent that was Calissa. She smelled amazing, like always. He just wanted to take in every moment of what was going on around him. This dance made everything that happen to them in the past year disappear.

Calissa removed her head from its resting point on his chest. "LA, what are we doing?"

"It's a little thing called dancing," he joked.

"No, LA," she stopped him. "We should be doing this. We shouldn't even be here." Her eyes were lined with tears. "It's not safe."

"Calissa, I don't care. I miss you," I groaned.

"I do, too, LA…" she cried. "But… we have to cut off all ties. I know it's been rough, but it's for your own good. From you getting in to that car accident to coming in to the house of my real father, you could have been hurt in so many ways. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt again. Like I've been saying all year, you need to…"

Before she could finish, LA cut her off. He didn't know what was going on. It's like his heart took over his whole body, compromising with his brain about his next move. They both wanted the same thing. His brain threw logic out the window and moved his muscles forward.

He kissed her.

Holding her cheeks in his hands, he kissed her, passionately, like they were both going to die right then and there. Their lips mimicked each other in sweet harmony, both giving in to each other. Her lips felt soft and had a taste of strawberries. His lips were rough, fighting for dominance. Both meshed perfectly with each other, like they were meant to be connected. Both were shocked at first, but soon gave in, holding onto each other for a while, just kissing.

_I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
'Cause I'd miss you, babe  
And I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing  
And even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
I still miss you, babe  
And I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing_

Calissa pulled away, her cheeks blushing far too noticeable. Her breathing was loud, matching her worried tone. This couldn't be happening. She wanted to run, wanted to get as far from him as possible, but it was almost as if his blue eyes had her paralyzed to where she stood. She couldn't do this. She didn't want this to happen. But as much as she tried, she couldn't fight it.

She was falling for him again.

"Please don't run away from me again," LA begged, trying to lighten to mood. His remark was true, based on past experiences. Whenever something romantic happened between them, she ran away from the subject. He expected her to leave. But when she didn't, he was a little worried. She was just staring into his eyes with him staring back.

"I… I can't…" Calissa whimpered, on the verge of tears. "Your eyes won't let me."

"Calissa," LA started, grabbing on to her shoulders. "Please don't leave me."

She put on a small smile. "I'm sorry, LA, but I can't be here. I, I can't let you get hurt. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt anymore, but…"

Without warning, she pulled him down to her height, running her fingers through his auburn hair. Their lips connected. Soon, her tongue was basically shoved down his throat. Her fingers were tangled in his hair, her delicate curls getting mashed between both of their bodies. LA, now recovered from the alarm, starting fighting with her tongue. He pulled her against him, holding her hips. Both wanted dominance over their mouths. Before LA could win this battle, Calissa backed away, a smile on her face.

"I'm falling, LA. I'm falling for you, again," her smile faded a tiny bit, the corners of her mouth dropping. "Catch me before I hit rock bottom."

"Why do you mean?"

"I can't be with you, LA. Please, pull out me out of my fantasy world before I become too engrossed to do it myself." Her arms fell from LA to her sides. She finally pulled herself from his gaze, looking at her feet.

"Cay…" LA started.

"Cay?" she interrupted, giving him a strange look. "Cay is my brother. 'Cay' is a letter. A cay is a small island. My name is Calissa, Cuh-lissa."

"I'm sorry, Cuh-lissa," he apologized, enunciating the hard 'c'. "But I know you want to protect me, but honestly, this year has been the toughest of my life. From losing my team positions to finding out I'm bipolar, this year has sucked. But the worst part," he grabbed her chin, making sure she was looking at him, "was losing you."

"Adam," she stopped him, not bothering with his nickname. "Stop. You and I, we need to forget each other. All that just happened never did. Let's enjoy the last moments we have until we part ways this summer," she suggested, hinting his Texas State football scholarship.

"But… I want more," he admitted.

"I'm sorry." With that, the song ended and she walked back to the table, leaving LA to stand in the middle of happy, dancing couples, kissing. Calissa would never know how much he would have given to be one of those couples.

_And even when I dream of you_  
_The sweetest dream will never do_  
_I still miss you, babe_  
_And I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing_

* * *

**And end!**

**So CaLA fans, that's what I've dubbed you guys, like? I actually really like writing their kissing scenes. I love bring out the wild side in Calissa.**

**So I wrote the "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" part three days before my homecoming, which was yesterday, and then they played this song there. I cried while they played it. One: because my boyfriend goes to a different school and I wished he could have been there. And two: I was thinking about LA and Calissa and what was going to happen during this song. Freaky, right?**

**So there's one more chapter left. This story has 185 reviews. Wow. Thank you guys so much. My goal for this chapter is to get into the 190's, so if you want to, leave me your thoughts. Good dialouge? Like the characters? Suggestions? Tell me! I love hearing from you guys!**

**The next chapter will have all the couples and graduation! So until next time, Thanks For Reading!**


	21. The End

**Hello readers! **

**It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that this is the last chapter of A Lifetime. I have had so much fun writing this and it means the world to me that you enjoyed it. Thank you. This is finished because of you readers. **

**If you didn't read The Kids of The Kids of Degrassi, you might not understand the last section. Just a warning. **

**So this is going to reveal a lot about the characters and have a surprise ending. Also, something special in the last author's note!**

**Enjoy the Finale!**

* * *

A squeal rang through the house up into LA's room. That could only mean one thing: Alli had arrived. LA smiled at the friendship his mother still held for her high school best friend, but envied her at the same time for still having her friendship intact. He looked down at the backyard, filled with family and friends that have known him his whole life all gathered for one occasion. Tomorrow, LA was graduating high school. He made it through all the drama that Degrassi High brings to its students, including the friends he made... well, one in particular.

He looked down at his wrist. It had been almost two months since he tried to commit suicide, but the scar for the most part hadn't got away. Reminding him of that day was a white outline of the cut where his skin was trying to heal. Calissa's initials where still engraved into his skin. When the cafeteria found out what had happened over spring break, he stopped trying to hide it. As soon as he could, he took off the bandages and let go of the long sleeve shirts and jackets. He didn't care who saw it or what they thought. He just didn't care.

But today was different. He wanted people to look at the better LA, not the remnants of who he was. He wrapped his wrist and threw on his favorite blue, zip-up, long sleeve hoody. He looked out of his window at his family and people who are so close to him, they could be family. His mom and dad were talking to his Aunt Alli and another guy with her, along with his Aunt Jenna and Uncle KC. Both of his grandparent's, sans Clare's real dad, sat in the lawn chairs LA spent all morning setting up. His uncle Jake and his wife, Samantha, were supervising Bryson, Melina, who was Ali's daughter, and their son Jack as they played with a beach ball. Brady and Julia were lounging around on a picnic blanket, Julia trying to feed Brady a strawberry. His Aunt Fiona and Uncle Adam just walked into the back yard, receiving hugs from his parents and Alli and her date. LA smiled at the scene. One big, happy family. He wanted today to be happy, not hectic and worrisome like the last months had been. To make everyone forget about bipolar LA was his goal for today.

"Uncle LA?" a sweet voice called in his room, knocking softly on the door. Slightly startled, LA turned away from the window scene and toward his door, revealing a little girl in a lime green dress and matching head band peeking into his room. Seeing her face put a smile on his.

"Niece Oliviera," he joked with her, picking her up. LA and Oliviera had a close relationship with each other. He was her playmate and he could tell her just about anything.

"Are you going to tell them today?" she questioned. His smile fell at the reminder of his announcement. "You have to tell them sometime. You wouldn't want them going all the way to Texas just to find out that you're here."

"You make a good point, little one," LA mumbled.

Out of nowhere, she kissed his forehead through his bangs. She knew he needed some comfort. Smiling, she said, "You know, you're going to make a better chef than football player."

He smiled. That's exactly the encouragement he needed. Today was the day he told his parents that he gave up his scholarship to Texas State University to stay in Toronto to go to Liaison Culinary School. In home ec and cooking club, he found that he was very good at it and he liked it. He felt like he was in control of what the concoction would become. The feeling of self-power ran over him and the excitement of the finished product pushed his excitement level over the top. He felt like he needed to cook. That was what he wanted to do.

"Okay, I'll tell them," LA answered, "today, but on one condition."

Oliviera's ice blue eyes opened wide. "Oh no. What's the catch?"

He smirked. "You help me tell them and escort me to the backyard."

Her features relaxed. She put on a smirk that matches his. "You're the guy. Aren't you supposed to escort the girl?"

He chuckled, then ruffled her hair. "You got that right. Don't let any guy tell you otherwise. He has to be a gentleman."

She scrunched up her tiny nose. "Who said anything about a guy? Ew."

LA laughed even louder as he set her down. "Stay cute, kid."

She took his hand, a goofy grin on her face, and they walked downstairs to the back yard. When he opened up the sliding door, he motioned her to go out first, to which she waited for him to walk out behind her. Everyone went "Aww" at the adorable sight. "Yeah, yeah, this is my date for this shindig," LA joked, watching as Oliviera ran over to the rest of the younger kids playing with the beach ball. "Well, I just lost my date..."

Brady smiled. "No dating until she's forty."

"Fourteen," Julia countered.

"Forty," Brady answered back.

"Okay, whatever," she gave up, throwing her hands in the air. Taking a pause, she smirked. "Fourteen."

"Grr..."

Fiona and Adam came up to LA, wrapping him in a huge hug. "Look at you! I remember when you were born! I feel so old!" Fiona exclaimed.

"Aunt Fi, you look the same now as you did when I was born," LA pointed out. "You shouldn't feel old."

Smiling at the compliment, Fiona let Adam talk to the graduate. "So how's my namesake doing?"

"Doing pretty well," he answered. "Getting ready for college."

That's right. You're going to Texas, right?" KC asked. KC was excited about his football scholarship, seeing as KC was the Degrassi football coach.

He tried to hide his nervous look on his face. He wasn't ready to tell them. Oliviera looked over at him, expectantly. Even with the look of disappointment he would see on the preschooler's face, he answered, "Exactly."

He mentally kicked himself. That answer brought many questions about what he's going to do all the way in Texas, stuff he knew he wasn't going to do. This went on for about an hour. His brain literally hurt from all the lies he had to make up. Finally, he was able to switch the subject and got all the focus from him to Alli and the man she brought with her, Dave. When given the chance, he snuck over to his sister and brother-in-law, who were still lying down on the blanket.

"Listen, I know you guys have an announcement to make. Do you think you can make it soon so my announcement doesn't seem as big?" he begged.

Brady's face paled, his eyes wondering the yard for anyone within earshot. "What announcement?"

"I told him," Julia confessed like it was the most obvious thing in the world. When his face turned from shocked to unbelievable, she defended herself. "I had to tell someone. And speaking of announcements, what is yours that needs ours to be spoken about first?"

He bit his lip. "You'll learn when everyone else does."

Immediately, Julia smiled. "You're gay, aren't you? I knew you were a little fruity!"

"I'm not gay," he deadpanned.

"There's nothing wrong with being gay, LA. We'll love you just the same. Aunt Fi went through a lesbian period," she tried to comfort.

"Unneeded information. Thank you so much, sister dearest," he said, monotone, "but I'm not gay."

"Then what is it?" she demanded.

"You will see!" he seethed. "Just hurry up."

She glared at her little brother, looking straight into his eyes, using the same expressions that used to scared the living daylight out of him. Now instead of breaking under the pressure, he stared back with equal power, shocking his sister in his defiance. She broke. "Fine. We'll say it now."

"We will?" Brady squeaked, obviously frightened by their news.

"Yes, we will," Julia answers through her teeth, still glaring at her brother. She gripped Brady's wrist and pulled him up. "Come on."

LA smiled as Brady and Julia moved over to the rest of people in the yard. Oliviera looked over at her parents, a confused look on her face. LA got her attention, using his hand to signal her over to him. Smiling, knowing what was going on, she ran over as fast as her little legs could to her uncle.

"Not to take away from LA's graduation, something I thought would never come..." She stuck her tongue out at him, causing him to react the same. "We have some news for you guys."

Eli groaned. "You're not pregnant again, are you?"

She scoffed, "Why does everyone think our big news is always another baby? We're not that horny!"

"TMI!" LA yelled out, covering his ears.

"Anyway..." Julia rolled her eyes. "You all know Brady's been working really hard with the record company. Well, they really love him."

Brady had sweat beads forming on his bang-covered forehead. "They offered me a big job as a songwriter and performer for a TV show..." He choked on his words. He never thought he would be this scared to tell his wife's family anything. His heart was racing. He had to tell them now or it would explode inside of him. "We're moving to Orlando..."

Everyone's eyes widened at the same time. Julia and Brady gulped loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Orlando? As in Orlando, Florida?" Clare asked.

"Yeah..." Julia answered seriously, instead of the normal sarcastic remark about a non-existent Orlando in Columbia.

"We leave next week," Brady sprung on. Everyone was speechless for a few minutes, processing how it's going to be without them. They've never lived far away from them. Everyone wanted to be happy for the family, but this was going to be difficult. "LA, isn't there something you wanted tell us?" Brady tried to fill the uncomfortable silence.

LA's face paled. "Oh, yeah, well..." he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "You see..."

"Hola, people!" a girly voice rang through the yard. Everyone turned toward the sound. A blonde shoulder length haired girl in a yellow sundress stood at the entrance to the house. "What? A girl can't come to the graduation party of someone who was like a brother to her?"

"Brookie!" Julia squealed, running over to give her best friend a hug.

"Oh, My God!" both squealed, jumping up and down in excitement.

Oliviera tugged at LA's jacket. "Who is she?"

"Right now: a murderer to eardrums everywhere," LA groaned, holding his hands over his ears. "She's your mom's best friend."

Oliviera tilted her head at Brookie. Cautiously, she shuffled over to them and held her hands behind her back. Tilting on the balls of her feet, she introduced herself, nervously. "Hi. I'm Oliviera."

"Oh, my god, Julia, she looks exactly like you," Brookie praised, ruffling the preschooler's hair. "But with those bright eyes that undeniably belong to Brady." She glared at him playfully.

"Hey, Brookie," he greeted, hugging her.

When they pulled apart, she ran up to LA and pinched his cheeks. "My, you've gotten big."

"Brookie, I was thirteen the last time you saw me," he tried to say as his cheeks were getting in the way of his speech. "I think I've grown a little, gained some muscle, but not enough to say I've gotten big."

She pouted playfully. "Fine, Mr. Party Pooper. No custom-made blanket for you," she said in a bad European accent, handing him a bag covered in tissue paper anyway.

"Thanks, Brookie," he smirked, giving her a hug.

"Though, you probably won't need it in Texas," she winked, dropping LA's stomach even more. He nodded, then placed the folded blanket on the table. He watched as Brookie ran over to her parents, hugging them and kissing their cheeks.

"Wuss," Oliviera whispered, standing next to him.

"Shut up," he groaned.

"Brookie," a male voice called through the house. "You left your phone in the car."

Brookie's smile engulfed her face as everyone gave her a questioning look. She ran through the house, appearing again with a man by her side. He had short light brown hair, wire glasses over his brown eyes, skinny khakis, a white button up and skinny black tie, and was a thin as a pole. He looked like he belonged behind a computer than in a backyard. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Derek."

"Nice to meet you guys. Brookie's mentioned a lot about you all," he smiled, mostly at KC, who was glaring at the boy.

"We met back in college sophomore year. He's a computer designer." She locked hand with him. "Since I'm moving back to starting my designing career at the fabulous Torres Designs…"

She hinted to Fiona and Adam's clothing company. Fiona was the main designer and Adam took care of the business information. After seeing some of Brookie's designs and looking at her arts degree from college, they hired her as a designer.

Brookie and Derek smiled at each other. "We figured it would be the perfect time to tell you guys, seeing that you'll be seeing us a lot."

"Tell you what, Brooke," KC glared, not even bothering to use her name she goes by.

Brookie, blushing, lifted both of their hands, revealing a huge diamond on her left ring finger. "We're getting married!"

KC turned bright red as Jenna and Julia shrieked. "Shut up. Shut up! Shut the front door! Oh, my God!" Julia exclaimed, hugging her and jumping at the same time. Derek just stood and watched, shuffling his tiny feet, too scared to look KC in the eyes.

As this celebration, and some Derek-bashing on KC's part, Oliviera pulled LA's sleeves, tugging him over to the bush. When making sure no one was looking, she took one swift kick to LA's groin.

"Oh, my god," he squeaked, falling to the fetal position on the ground. "What was that for?"

"For being a baby!" Oliviera complained. She kneeled down to his height on the ground. "Now that Brookie lady bought you some time. You better make your decision on when you're telling them soon…" She flicked his nose. "Or I will."

**… … …**

The night was dying down. It was around eight and everyone was crowded around the fire. All the couple were snuggled under blankets while the little kids roasted marshmallows around the fire in their pajamas. LA even joined in on the marshmallow toasting, using different types of chocolate to see which makes the best tasting smore.

He finished a full plate of dark chocolate graham cracker smores drizzled in melted chocolate on top. "Dark chocolate," he explained, passing one out to everyone. Once everyone took a bite, he bit into his. A big smile appeared on his face. "Nothing like good old dark chocolate. My personal favorite."

"You're quite a chef, LA," Fiona complemented, taking a finishing bite.

"Yeah, LA. A Chef," Oliviera hinted, chocolate running down her chin.

LA gulped, then shoved the rest of the cracker into his mouth. He still hadn't told them about culinary school. He knew he had to soon, but whenever he did, this brain couldn't form the words.

"You know, maybe you should go to a cooking school," Adam said, before noticing the marshmallow he was cooking had caught on fire. Quickly and in a panic, he waved it around, then blew it out. Everyone laughed at both the comment and the action. LA blushed, joining in the laughing awkwardly. He wished he could just get over this and tell them.

Oliviera gently blew on her light brown toasted treat. Without hesitation, she plopped it in LA's mouth. Confused, he tried to say something, but the marshmallow stopped him. "Okay, you have five minutes to tell them the truth," she whispered.

When he finally swallowed the food, he asked, "Why are you so eager for me to tell them?"

"First, they need to know that you've changed your life choice. Secondly, I go to bed in five minutes and I want to see their reaction!" She seethed through her teeth. "Now tell them. You'll feel better once you get it off your chest."

He took in what the four-year-old said. All this party he's been stressed because of his announcement. He needed to get this over with, no matter how hard. "You're right. Okay."

"Good, baka(1)," she smirked, eating an untoasted marshmallow.

"Don't use words I don't understand," he complained, going from his laying down position to standing up. "Um, I have something to say."

"You're gay, aren't you?" Julia smiled in excitement, slightly bouncing in her knees.

"No! What is with you and wanting me to be gay?" he exclaimed.

"Oh, come on! We need a gay person in this family!" Julia explained.

"Anyway…" He ignored his sister's remark. "First off, I'd like to thank you all for coming here to help send me off to college. I appreciated it so much." He took a deep breath, trying to find just right words to say. "But I… I…"

"LA, what did you do?" Clare asked nervously.

Scared, he blurted out, "I gave up my football scholarship!" He waited for an out lash of insults and remarks, but what he got frightened him even more. Silence. He looked out at the faces all looking at him, eyes wide. KC looked like he was about to pass out. "Say something, anything."

"So you're not going to college?" Eli asked, nervous.

"No, no, I'm still going to college," he quickly clarified, knowing how his parents were very determined for him to have a college education. "I was offered another scholarship. After a long and difficult thought process, I decided to do what makes me happy. While I love football, I couldn't see myself playing the rest of my life. The other school specializes in what I love, what I can see myself doing until I die."

"So what did you choose?" KC asked the question on everyone's mind.

LA gulped, nervous and anxious at the same time. "I'm staying here in Toronto. Liaison offered me a scholarship." With all the nerve he could gather, he looked his parents in their eyes. "I'm going to culinary school. I'm going to be a chef."

"LA, are you sure what you want to do?" Fiona bit her lip.

"I've never been more positive," he smiled. "I love to cook, to take simple ingredients and turn it into something beautiful and delicious. That feeling I get when it's done is amazing, something that feels better than after every winning game I've ever played." His smile grew wider. "I've made up my mind. This is what I want to do."

After a brief pause, Clare walked over to her son and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder. Slowly, she started to cry. "Thank you, LA."

"Mom," he patted her back, trying to calm her, "why are you crying?"

"I'm happy, Adam," she cried. She pulled back and looked him in his confused eyes. "Not only are you going to be close to home, you're doing something you truly love. I'm proud of you."

"We all are," Eli smiled, coming up behind Clare and resting his hand on his wife's shoulder.

He let out a small, relieved sigh. "Thanks guys. It honestly means a lot."

He felt a tugging on his pants leg. Looking down, he found Oliviera smirking up at him. "Good job, baka."

* * *

LA looked at himself in the mirror of the school bathroom. This signature Degrassi blue of his cap and gown made his eye pop and his curly hair look bright in contrast. He played with a single curl that kept falling in his eyes. It kept his mind off of today: graduation. He wasn't ready to leave. There was still something he needed to do and if he didn't do it today, he never would.

Cayden popped his head into the bathroom. "Come on, dude!" he called.

"Coming!" LA answered. He took another hard look at himself. His skin looked pale and worried. The blue in his eyes that popped from the uniform looked dull up close and his under eyelids looked puffy and purple. The decision had him up almost all night. He looked almost dead. To look more alive, he splashed some water on his face and threw on a smile. Now he could pass for some calm, cool, and collected on the outside. Inside: he was a nervous wreck.

He ran out to the line, a few people behind Calissa and Cayden. Before he could make it to his spot, Cayden stopped him. "Good luck, man."

"You, too," he said, smiling over to Calissa. She blushed, then turned around, avoiding eye contact. He smirked and walked to his spot in line. This was going to be an interesting graduation.

**... … …**

"And now presenting our valedictorian, Calissa Fitzgerald," Mr. Simpson announced. Claps rang through the gymnasium as Calissa calmly walked up to the podium, speech in hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Simpson," she smiled, then turned to the audience. "I's like to start off with a poem by Nicholas Gordon that could pretty much some up what all of the graduates are thinking:

_Give me my degree and let me go,__  
__Release me from this prison of the mind,__  
__All I know is all I want to know,__  
__Depending on the wisdom of the wind.__  
__Unburden me of words and numbers, please!__  
__Allow me to hang out and do my thing.__  
__To learn best, I should best be at my ease,__  
__In touch with what in life makes my heart sing.__  
__Open up the world so I can see__  
__No further than I need to be just me."_

A tiny laughter of truth buzzed through the room. Calissa smiled, pushing a long strand of curly hair behind her ear to finish reading. "Well, not to be cliché, but this is it. We're done here, done together. Some of us are leaving for college. Some are going directly to work. Some of us don't know what we're going to do, while some of us have our life planned out. Just think, for most of us, thirteen years ago, we started kindergarten. We were so excited to start school. And every day after that, all we wanted to do was get here." The crowd let out a small chuckled. "We've made great friends over the years," she looked over at LA, "and lost some special people to us. But this just a start. We have the rest of our lives ahead of us. Sure, we'll meet new people, new friend, new loves, but you'll never forget your high school years. So classmates, friends, from me and everyone else to you: congratulations."

Applause started as she walked back to her seat. Mr. Simpson went back up and started talking again, starting the diploma ceremony. Following procedure, he stood up, walked with the line, and waited as the names were called out. "Calissa Belle Fitzgerald." She went up, shook the principle's hand while grabbing her diploma, had her tassel turned, and walked back to her seat. "Cayden Bryant Fitzgerald." He repeated the process. A few people ahead of LA did the same thing before LA's turn. "Adam Skylar Goldsworthy." A small smile appeared on his face as he walked up to receive his diploma, but not because he was graduating, but because now everyone knew what the A stood for in LA, a big question asked. When Mr. Simpson moved his tassel over to the other side, he added, "Texas State University?"

Feeling proud, he answered, "No. Liaison Culinary." With an approving nod, LA walked back to his seat. Mr. Simpson took the next twenty minutes to hand out the rest of the diplomas. With each name that was read off, LA became more anxious for his plan to start. He had everything ready. This was the perfect opportunity. He didn't care about the trouble it would get him in. He had to do this.

"Noah Forest Zoe," Mr. Simpson called the last name. He went up, did what the rest of graduates did, and walked back to his spot. Watching him walk back, LA unfroze from where he stood. It was now or never. This had to happen, no matter what.

"Friends, family, I present to you the Degrassi graduates of…" Mr. Simpson started, the rest of the students waiting to throw their hats in the air and get out of there.

"Wait!" LA yelled, interrupting the ceremony. The room was quite, but soon a murmur of confused rang out.

"Mr. Goldsworthy," Mr. Simpson threatened.

Ignoring the threat, LA ran up to the podium. "I need to say something."

"LA, not now," the principle seethed.

Ignoring him yet again, he grabbed the attached microphone on the podium, pushing Mr. Simpson out of the way. The police on the edge of the stage were about to remove him until they heard what he said.

"I love you."

Everyone froze in their place and sentences. The gymnasium became silent at the boy's exclamation. The police started towards him, but Mr. Simpson held them back, letting LA finish.

"I've done everything I could possibly think of to get you back, but you want nothing to do with me." He held onto the sides of the podium for dear life, afraid he would pass out from nervousness. "I've loved you since the day I met you. Everything I've ever done for you was because I love you." A huge smile spread across his face. This was actually working_._

"We met when we were nine. I-I almost knocked your head off with a football," he chuckled at the memory. "But as soon as I looked into your beautiful brown eyes, you had my heart instantly. Ever since then, my mind has been scheming on how to make you mine."

He looked out into his fellow students, taking a pause. He made sure not to look at her, saving that for last. "Not to bring back a bad memory, but the moment I knew for sure that this was more than just a crush was when you were kidnapped. I was devastated. I didn't know what to do. But even if it killed me, I knew I would be the one to find you. I would be the one you would see." He looked over a Cayden, remembering the search for her. "Seven months. Seven long months. Seven months without you, without your smile, that twinkle you get in your eyes when you laugh. Seven months of searching. They said you probably weren't alive, that you were a lost cause, but I couldn't give up. I wasn't about to. And guess what? I beat what everyone said. I didn't find. I was the first person you saw. That amazing feeling of knowing that you were alive was the greatest thing ever." He barely realized that he was starting to tear up, along with a few others in the crowd, including his mom and Cayden's mom.

"After that, my life was perfect, not because of my athletic ability or my social status. My life was perfect because you were in it… until this year." He turned away from the audience, not wanting to look anyone during this. He just stared at the dark wood that made up the podium. With a deep breath, he continued.

"Coming back from a dance, there was a car accident, involving you and me. I got hurt. You blamed yourself. But what you don't realize is that you weren't okay. You were traumatized by what had happened back at the dance. I was going to take you back home, get some ice cream, and put on the Little Mermaid, because I know that's your favorite Disney movie. I didn't have to take you home. I wanted to. It's not your fault. You were the drunken guy that crashed into us." He felt a small tear fall down his cheek. "But you still felt at fault. You said that you put me in so much danger and you couldn't live with yourself if I got hurt. You left my life..." He took another deep breathe, preparing for what he was about to pour out. "What you don't realize is that you leaving is what hurt me the most."

He brushed his cheek, making it look like an itch instead of wiping away tears. "I went into a deep depression. I was depressed for around six months. I tried to kill myself because I lost you. It couldn't be helped. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Then when I got back, we had a fight. I yelled at you. I scared you. Don't pretend I didn't. I saw it in your eyes. I was afraid, too. I was becoming a monster. Everyone thought I was crazy. I thought I was crazy. But I'm not." LA had the courage to look up, smiling. "You said all you did it get me hurt. You're wrong. You made me realize what was wrong. I get depressed for so long and have fits of rage because… I'm bipolar. I never would have figured that out without you.

"Also, while I was hurt, I couldn't play sports. That was basically what my life was filled with. But I found something else to occupy my time. I found my love for cooking." He looked over at all of his coaches lined up in the teacher area for the ceremony. "I gave up my Texas State scholarship. Football isn't my passion." Moving from his coaches, his eyes rested on his home economics teacher, Mrs. Small. "I'm going to Liaison Culinary School here in Toronto. I'm going to be a chef." She sent him a small smile before watching him turn back to the crowd. "You helped me find out what I love to do. You helped me more than I think you'll ever know."

He stepped away from the podium, wanting to walk down to her, but couldn't. He needed everyone to hear what he had to say. As if reading his thoughts, Ms. Dawes walked up behind him with a cordless microphone in her hand. She was panting. La figured she ran to the media room and retrieved it. With a nod and mouthed "thank you," he turned back towards the edge of the stairs of the stage.

"Going back to the accident. A few months before, I had a conversation with my older sister about love." He looked up at his sister in the crowd, finding her immediately. She was smiling down at him, looking proud, as were the rest of his family. "She told me real love is when you'd rather die yourself just to save them. That sentence was running through my mind right before the car hit us. I threw myself over you. I couldn't stand you see you get hurt. I'd rather it be me." He took another step down until he was at the level of his classmates. "But love isn't just wanting to do anything to keep them safe. While I would take a bullet for you, I want to be the guy who would live for you, who wouldn't leave you."

He took small steps down the aisle that divided the graduates. He wanted to stop at her row at a specific point in his speech. "Do you remember what I said right before the impact? Did you hear? I yelled at the top of my lungs. I wanted you to hear, just in case I didn't make it. I said 'I love you.'"

LA stopped. The room was silent. No one said a word. The microphone fell to his side in his hands. His head turned towards her, finally connecting eyes. Cayden, figuring out what LA was doing, grabbed her hand and led her out of the row to him. Placing her hand in his hand, Cayden whispered, "You've worked hard. She's important to me. I trust you."

"I won't let you down," LA smirked. As Cayden went back to his spot, LA took her hand in his and dragged her up to the stage.

"What are you doing?" she asked, blushing furiously.

"What I should have done a while ago," he answered. When they made it to the middle of the stage, he picked the microphone back up. "I love you. I don't care how many times I have to say it prove it to you. I just want to be with you. Please."

"LA," she begged, not able to finish her sentence.

He set the microphone on the podium. Taking both of her hands into his, he looked her in the eyes, like they were the only ones in the room, in the world. They were all that mattered to him and that was all he needed. He whispered just for her to hear, "Calissa Belle Fitzgerald, I love you."

Calissa couldn't fight it anymore. He had done everything he could to get her to take him back. He put himself out there just to prove he loved her. She couldn't deny it any longer. Right then, looking into his blue eyes and sincere facial expression, she decided to do something good for both of them. Wiping a tear from her cheek, she whispered, "I love you, too, Adam. I love you."

"Yes!" he exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. He picked her up, a smile wide on both of their faces, spun her around, and they kissed. The crowd cheered as loud as they ever could.

Mr. Simpson, taking an opportunity to use this excitement, took the microphone from the stand and yelled, "I present the Degrassi graduates of 2033!"

The graduates threw their caps in the air and cheered, the clapping still remained the same speed. The caps flew in the air in a parade of blue, every cap except LA's and Calissa's. They stood on the stage, still kissing each other. LA was holding her up, so when the pulled apart she was looking down at him. Her cheeks were still red from embarrassment, but she didn't care. They stared into each other's eyes while all the commotion was going on around them. They didn't care about what everyone else was doing. They were in love and that's all that mattered. Calissa bit her lip mischievously before grabbing LA's cap and throwing it up. Scoffing, LA did the same with hers. After laughing at the incident, they looked over to find Cayden and Kari smiling at them. Both blushed at the sight, but soon Calissa pulled LA back into their kiss.

**… … …**

The gymnasium was now empty, except for the janitors folding the chairs. Eli and Clare watched from the bleachers at the empty sight before them.

"We did it," Clare smiled. "We raised a good son."

"And he finally got the girl," Eli smirked. "Not too bad."

"I've been waiting for that moment. They're perfect for each other," she giggled.

"Yeah, she's intelligent, pretty, careful, while LA is… well, LA," he joked. Clare laughed slightly, acknowledging the truth. Something about her tone held sadness to it. Eli picked up on it. "You know, it's not over. We still have Bryson to get through high school," he mentioned the second grader.

"Yeah, but it's still difficult," Clare sighed. "He was my first baby boy… and now he's going off the college, has a wonderful girlfriend. It's hard to watch them grow up."

"Tell me about it," Eli agreed. "Julia's leaving next week. It's going to be tough watching my baby girl leave."

LA and Calissa walked back into the gymnasium, hand in hand. "Hey, mom, dad, everyone's waiting for you," LA informed them.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your boxers in a bunch," Eli teased, standing up. "We'll be out." With that, the new couple went back outside.

Eli held his hand out to Clare, helping her up. Holding her hand all the way down the bleachers, Eli wrapped his arm around her shoulder when they reached the bottom. "So are you ready for all the packing up?"

"Not at all. I hate packing," Clare groaned, causing both to laugh.

"Grandma, Grandpa, look what I found!" Oliviera ran in, holding something in her tiny hand. She opened her fist, revealing a shiny gold locket. It seemed familiar to Eli and Clare. "It's so pretty. And look! It has Mommy's initials!"

Eli and Clare quickly turned towards each other, eyes wide. They realized why it was so familiar. It was the locket Julia and Brookie used back when they were in high school. "Let me see this," Eli said, taking the locket from Oliviera. "It is pretty. I'll hold onto it for you."

Oliviera smiled and ran off. Once she was out of sight, Eli threw the locket on the ground and stomped on it multiple times, breaking it into tiny pieces. Clare reached down and picked up the tiny bits, throwing them into a nearby trashcan.

"We'll get her a pony," Eli smirked.

They walked out of the school into the parking lot. Oliviera and Bryson were chasing each other around the car. Julia and Brady were sitting on the bummer, watching the little ones. Cayden and Kari were sitting in Cayden's car, waiting for LA and Calissa, who were joining them for a post-graduation party. LA and Calissa were leaning against Eli and Clare's car, Calissa's arms around LA's neck and LA's arms wrapped around her waist, each stealing little pecks every chance they could. Clare looked over to Eli at this sight, kissing him on the cheek. "We did good, Mr. Goldsworthy."

Eli kissed her cheek back. "Yeah, yeah, we did."

* * *

**The End. **

**There you have it. The end of A Lifetime. I hope everyone liked the ending. I hope that this story can get 200 reviews! That would make my day!**

**Yes, I'm a Dalli shipper. I just like them together! Also, I'm not a huge fan of Jake. Not because I'm an EClare fan, but I just don't like his personality. **

**So I bet you're wondering what the special thing I mentioned above is? Well, I have an idea for a small squeal to this, maybe around five or six chapters, just to tie up a loose thread. It'll mainly be focused on Bryson and Oliviera, and the whole adoption thing, and Eli and Clare trying to figure out. Should I do it? If you want it, tell me in the review!**

**Well, for the last time in this story, Thanks for Reading!**


	22. Author Note

You asked for it, you get it!

The third part is coming soon! (Fireworks, drum banging, riots of excitement! Wait, no riots of excitement? Aww…)

Right now, all I have is a preview, but it's up. I don't know when the first chapter will be posted. With finals and other events coming up, I don't have much time to write.

I don't plan on making this story that long, maybe seven to eight chapters. It's just to tie up a big loose thread, a thread a many of you have asked about: Bryson's adoption. The story mostly circles around Bryson and Oliviera (this affects her, too. Not just Bryson). Fun stuff.

Also, on a nerdy note, I asked to get to 200 reviews and you guys gave me exactly 200 reviews. Not only was I excited to break a barrier, my nerdy side was excited about how I got the approximate amount I asked for! Thank you so much!

If you want to read the preview, it's under _**"Hear Me Now."** _I got the title from a Framing Hanley song because I felt one line really fit the whole situation.

So, what are you waiting for? Go, read. Now!


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